Fill In
by immatx
Summary: The life of a ninja is often glorified in stories that spread from mouth to mouth in the shinobi and civilian community alike. In reality it's harsh, it's painful, and it isn't for everyone. Shikai Nara often wishes that it wasn't for him.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did. Christmas anyone?

 **Prologue**

* * *

Shikamaru cracked open one eye. Seeing that the coast was clear, he let out a giant yawn before pushing himself up. He looked out the window to check approximately what time it was, and his large, childish eyes grew even wider as he saw that the sun was already high above the trees of the Nara compound. That didn't make sense. His mother always woke him hours before then.

He stretched, and swung his feet off of his bed and onto the floor. Standing up with a small groan, Shikamaru slowly walked over to his closet to change into his clothes. He decided to go with a dark olive green shirt and dark grey pants. He thought the colors suited his personality: physical, but not present.

After looking longingly back at his bed, Shikamaru started trudging down the stairs into his house's living room. Odd, his parents definitely should have been up and about at this time. His father sitting on the couch, trying to look busy, while his mother cooked or cleaned, while at the same time chastising his father for not being more involved in the shinobi lifestyle, or the Nara clan, or their house, or whatever else was on her mind at the moment.

Whatever, if they weren't here it just meant he didn't have to give any effort to pretend to be active. He stopped suddenly. If his mother wasn't here, then that meant he could go back to sleep! Giddy with excitement, and nearly tripping over his still slightly pudgy toddler feet, Shikamaru nearly sprinted up the stairs and back into his bedroom, climbing into bed and beneath the covers. With a smile he rolled over, ready to continue his favorite past-time.

* * *

It really was odd. Shikamaru hadn't seen anyone else since the day before yesterday. Maybe this was a test from his mother? She might be trying to trick him into panicking, or even more likely, leaving the house. As if. All Shikamaru needed was the bags of chips his father had hidden away for when the Akimichis came over.

Actually, if that were the case his father would have been back by now. He wouldn't go without the comfort of sitting on the couch for hours on end just for the schemes of his crazy wife, and her ridiculously high expectations for activeness in her household. Shikamaru didn't understand it. He walked down the stairs every morning, and back up to his room every night, surely that was plenty of movement for one day.

After grabbing another handful of chips, Shikamaru stowed the bag back where he found it, and shuffled back in the direction of the living room. He hadn't quite made it through the doorway before he heard a peculiar sound. It seemed to be a shrill buzzing, and it was steadily growing louder. Moving slightly faster, Shikamaru made his way to the window, peering out to observe what this new sound might be. At the exact moment he peeked out, he managed to make out the words. He paled suddenly, backing away from the window, glancing over his shoulder before moving faster than he had ever moved in his life, across the room, up the stairs, through a door, and safely in his bed, under the covers. He waited. Any moment now...

CRASH!

The front door slammed open, and the screaming, now impossible to ignore, filled Shikamaru's ears.

"- BELIEVE YOU LEFT HIM ALONE THE PAST TWO DAYS! AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A PARENT! NO DOUBT CHOZA OR INOICHI WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE! HE'S ONLY ONE SHIKAKU, AND YOU LEFT HIM ALL BY HIMSELF, COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE!"

His mother's rant subsided, and Shikamaru pushed his head farther into his pillow. He could already imagine his father's reply, something along the lines of 'he's almost two', and he knew it would probably make the yelling match continue. Thinking that over he changed his mind, a match had to have multiple contestants, this just had one, and a target. He toned out the rest of the argument, and opted to catching up on the sleep he had lost by going to get some food.

All too soon, Shikamaru was being shaken awake. He correctly assumed it was his mother. Sighing, he opened his eyes, and took in the sight of his mother smiling down at him. He felt his bed sag suddenly, and looked over to find his father had collapsed down onto it. It made since to Shikamaru, the climb up the stairs always took a lot of energy out of HIM, so it made since that his father need to rest a little.

"Shika," his mother said in a gentle tone. He looked up at her as she continued, "your father and I have been thinking for a long time, and we've decided that we want to have another baby." She smiled like this was the greatest thing in the world. For the life of him, Shikamaru couldn't understand why. That would just mean one more person to take care of, one more person to provide for, cook for, and clean up after. It would take so much time and energy!

Frowning, he opened his mouth, trying to ask the question he had about this sudden decision. Then he suddenly closed it, as a new thought occurred to him. If his mother had to take care of a baby, then she wouldn't be able to harp at him as much. With this new realization, he looked at his father, understanding why he would have agreed to such a seemingly troublesome request. Troublesome, that summed it up pretty well.

But if it let him sleep more, and made the house more peaceful, at least for him, then it would definitely be worth it. "I like that," he said simply, before asking the important question. "When?"

His mother glanced at his father and said, "Your new baby brother will be born in a little over 3 months." She sounded pleased with herself. She had probably expected him to object, since he always objected to everything. But maybe she hadn't thought it out like he had, or hadn't thought that he would think it out like that. Or maybe she had wanted him to come to that conclusion all along in order to get him to agree to something she wanted. If that was the case, she deserved more respect than he had given her. He had never thought that she might be as sneaky and roundabout as his father. Actually, she might have even tricked his father with it too! Shikamaru looked at his father's face, and found that it was blank, but behind that veil he knew his father was thinking hard. Shikamaru would have laughed out loud then, if it wasn't so troublesome to do so. Instead, he allowed the corners of his mouth to raise slightly, the only sign that he found something amusing.

With that in mind, he turned back to his mother and said, "I can't wait," before rolling onto his side, with his parents at his back, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

It had been almost the three months allotted time for the baby to be born, and Shikamaru was getting impatient. His mother seemed even more testy than usual, and his father had taken to hiding at work in order to not be caught in the crossfire. Shikamaru, however, didn't have that luxury, and was constantly the one who played target to his mother's complaints. All he really wanted was for the man he called 'Dad' to come home, so at least he would be able to share Shikamaru's misfortune.

When he heard the door open, Shikamaru bounded downstairs as fast as he ever did anything, meaning it took less than double digit minutes to go the 20 feet down to the living room.

When Shikaku saw his son 'hustling' down to greet him he couldn't hide a smirk. It must have been really bad today. Maybe it was time he introduced him to Choji, the Akimichi heir, and Ino, the Yamanaka clan heir. It had been a while since he saw his two best friends and partners, and this would be a good excuse. Even better, he would be able to avoid his wife and her temper for several more hours, and who knows, by then he might have to go back to work, the Hokage was always happy to have help with his paperwork.

So when Shikamaru stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his father suddenly said, "Shika, I haven't introduced you to Ino and Choji yet have I, would you like to meet some other kids your age? Their fathers are good friends of mine, so you will probably be hanging out with them a lot as you get older."

Shikamaru just shrugged, "So we leave home? Good."

Shikaku grinned at his son and gestured towards the door. "We should go before your mother makes us do more chores." Shikamaru shuddered, and stumbled forwards, then caught himself. "Whoa, don't get too excited there Shika, you might make some noise," Shikaku started nervously.

"Right," Shikamaru mumbled, and turned towards the door. This was going to be a long walk.

* * *

Choji and Ino weren't that bad, at least in Shikamaru's opinion. They both seemed fine with him just lying on his back watching the clouds. Ino talked a lot, but her sentences were fragmented and hard to understand. It seemed to frustrate her. It frustrated Shikamaru too; it disrupted the peace and quiet. Choji just sat there munching on his chips, nodding as Ino talked.

Choji was wearing long khaki shorts and a small, dark green jacket with a light green coloring across the shoulders. He had short spiky brown hair, in a contrast to Shikamaru's black hair that was longer and coarser and fell almost to his shoulders. Ino was wearing a bright orange tank top and maroon pants. Her light blonde hair was cut short, her bangs held out of her eyes by a small purple clip.

Shikamaru sighed suddenly, stopping Ino in her monologue. The other two looked at him, surprised that he chose to make a noise. Shikamaru ignored them. He had payed attention to them at the beginning, but that was just because the grownups had wanted to see them get along, and they were still watching them. Now though, they were long gone, and Shikamaru didn't feel as though there was any need to continue exhausting himself like that for no reason.

But now they were expecting him to say something. He hoped they would just go back to whatever they were doing before, but as the silence continued, he regretted that sigh. Slowly, as if it pained him, Shikamaru raised his hand to point at the sky, "The clouds are nice. All they do is float all day, no responsibilities, nothing they have to do. It must be nice to be a cloud." He looked over at them, Choji still eating and bobbing his head in acknowledgment.

But Ino looked confused. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she opened it again, as if planning what she was going to say in her head. "What's a 'sponsibility?" she asked, finally putting words to what was troubling her.

Shikamaru sighed again. Then he was angry at himself for sighing again, when it was the reason for this predicament in the first place. Almost immediately, he stopped being angry. It took way to much energy. "A responsibility is something you have to do because someone else is relying on you to do it," he said slowly, making sure that she could follow. Ino's face screwed up tightly, trying to process what he had said. Then her face cleared.

"'Kay," she said, smiling radiantly, before going back to telling Choji about the flowers in her mother's shop.

Shikamaru looked over to the other side of the clearing and observed the three grown men sitting there. He had never seen his father look so happy or comfortable, or ACTIVE. Shaking his head, Shikamaru turned his attention back to the clouds, content that they at least, never used any energy they didn't have too.

* * *

While sitting with his friends Shikaku was having a great time. They didn't have the chance to get together often, and he missed the old days when they would come out to this training ground together just to do something in their boring lives. Now they didn't have the time, making this meeting all the sweeter.

He was glad that Shikamaru had the chance to meet other children. He rarely got out of the house, and only left when Shikaku made him come feed the deer with him. Otherwise he would just go back to bed. Sometimes Shikaku couldn't be prouder of his son. He seemed like he would become even smarter than Shikaku himself, and also knew how important sleep was. But at the same time he wished Shikamaru had a little more motivation. He had definitely been more active than his son when he was young, hadn't he?

"Choza, Inoichi, we've been friends pretty much forever right?" Shikaku paused, and continued when he got nods of confirmation from both men, "When we were young, I wasn't THAT lazy, was I?" he asked, pointing out Shikamaru lying on his back, staring up at the clouds. Inoichi and Choza shared a look before they both burst out laughing. Shikaku turned away, his pride slightly wounded. He looked at his son again and shook his head. He knew it was true, he never did anything if he didn't have to.

"Well, at least I had a boy, so I won't have to be very hands on as he grows up." Shikaku stated, trying to push the attention off of him. Inoichi suddenly stopped laughing. "It'll be fine," he said stiffly, "I'm a great father."

"Is the next one a boy too, Shikaku?" Choza asked his friend. Shikaku nodded, and then smirked, "And I'm not trading Inoichi."

The byplay continued for a while longer, but as it grew late they realized that while they could stay out all night, their kids needed to go to sleep soon before they fell asleep in the field. Well, before Ino or Choji fell asleep in the field. Shikamaru had no qualms about such a thing, and had done so soon after he went back to cloud watching.

Ino was still talking, not aware that no one was listening, when Inoichi swooped in and picked her up. She screamed, then tried to hit her father, "Don't DO that Daddy," she whined as he settled her at his shoulder.

"Say goodbye to your new friends, tulip," he laughed.

"Bye Choji, bye Shikamaru," said Ino, still a little indignant at her treatment.

"Bye Ino," Choji replied, while Shikamaru just grunted. They turned to their respective parents as the two Yamanakas walked away, Choji standing before the two adults, and Shikamaru sitting on the ground, not moving until he had too.

"Well Choji, we should-," Choza started, but the messenger arriving in a plume of smoke cut him off.

"I have a message for Shikaku Nara," the messenger stated abruptly.

"Yes?" Shikaku questioned, resigned to having to do more paperwork. At least the Hokage is fun, and it allows me to get updates on all of our shinobi so…. He suddenly snapped back into focus when he heard the messenger's next sentence.

"You are required in the hospital immediately."

"I…. I see…. Message received, you are dismissed." The messenger nodded before disappearing in another plume of smoke. "Choza, could you take Shikamaru home with you tonight? I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon."

"Of course, I understand. I'll see you later then, Shikaku," said Choza. He turned to the two kids, and held out his hands, allowing a smile to cross his face, "Grab on, we don't want to be late for dinner, right?"

As they walked along the path to the Akimichi clan compound, which was very close to the Nara clan compound, Shikamaru considered all the possibilities that could have called his father away. His first thought was that someone important was injured, but his father's two teammates had been in the clearing with him, and if it was anyone else then he wouldn't have needed to be in the hospital right away.

It wasn't until they were at the door to Choza and Choji's house that Shikamaru realized what must have happened. Immediately he felt bad. All day he had done his best to avoid his mother, when today was the day she must have needed him the most.

"It's today isn't it."

Choza and Choji looked at him, startled. His voice sounded quiet and empty, even to himself. "That's why Dad went to the hospital. Mom is there, the baby is coming today," he continued, trying to explain himself. His voice still sounded hollow, but it wasn't important to him. He wished he hadn't been so lazy today of all days, when it was necessary that he be there for his mother.

Choji still looked confused, but Choza's face softened, "Yes, it's happening now. But we really don't want to miss dinner, so, you know, we should get moving."

Choji nodded, "Yes, dinner," he agreed, his ever-present bag of chips somehow not yet empty.

But Shikamaru still felt bad, felt like he had let his Mom down. He sat down at the table, planning on brooding all throughout the meal. Until he tasted the food. It was some kind of stir fry, but it was easily the best food he'd ever tasted. His eyes widened, as the spices hit his mouth, and he gulped it down so fast it burned his throat.

"It's good isn't it," said Choza, smiling. "My wife always cooks the best when we have guests. If you come over sometime you can have this again."

Shikamaru nodded, past his self-pity. "I'd like that," he said simply. He dipped his spoon back in the broth, blowing on it to cool it. He took another bite, this time it wasn't so hot. He closed his eyes, allowing the sharp flavor to roll across his tongue so that he could enjoy it as long as possible.

"It's nice to meet you Shikamaru," said the smiling woman sitting across from him. "You are always welcome here whenever you want to stop by."

Shikamaru finished up his bite, slurping the broth out of his spoon. "Nice to meet you too, thank you for the food," he said, looking up at her. They finished the rest of the meal in silence, no one wanting to stop eating long enough to hold a conversation.

After he finished, Shikamaru walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch, content to stay there for the rest of the evening. Choza had spent enough time with Shikaku so that when he saw Shikamaru collapse there he immediately said, "Choji, you should show Shikamaru your room." It wouldn't do to have the guest do nothing but sit on the couch by himself for hours, and this way they could get to know each other more. It was a win-win.

Choji nodded and trotted over to Shikamaru. He grabbed Shikamaru's wrist and dragged him down a hall before stopping in front of a door. The Akimichi's house had a very different setup than the Nara's house, but it was made out of the same wood, the same wood that was used in all of Konoha's buildings. Choji pushed open the door and went inside. When Shikamaru didn't follow right away, Choji walked back and gestured towards the room, as if to invite him in. Shikamaru hesitated for a second, before stepping into Choji's room. He looked around him. It was smaller than his own room, but big enough that it wasn't cramped. Choji had his bed opposite the door, with his closet to the left and a box of toys on the right. Beside the door was a trash can piled high with empty chip bags. Choji added one more to the pile already towering above the floor, before sitting down by the toy box. He pulled out two cars and held one out to Shikamaru. Shikamaru took it without a word. This didn't seem too bad. The Akimichi's were all nice to him, and Choji seemed like he would make a good friend. Ino too, if she ever stopped talking. It had been a long day for Shikamaru, he hadn't slept nearly as much as normal, and after a hot meal, in the warm home of the Akimichi's, he quickly dozed off in the middle of playing with Choji.

* * *

"Right through this door Shikamaru, and remember, you have to be quiet because they might be sleeping," Shikaku reminded his son. It was the day after he had disappeared to the hospital in order to be with his wife while she gave birth. He was still relatively in shock that all of a sudden he had a new son. There wasn't any warning either, the baby was two weeks early.

Shikamaru let out a grunt to show that he heard, and Shikaku opened the door to allow them both to enter the room. Shikamaru crossed the room next to his father. He looked up at the bed where his mother was asleep. And then up at the small bundle in her arms.

"Is that him?" he asked, gesturing towards the bundle.

"Yup," his father replied proudly.

"What's his name?"

"Well, we haven't decided on one yet, but it will most likely be a name beginning with 'Shika' like mine name and yours."

Shikamaru thought for a moment. Shika…. Shika…. Shika…. Shika….

"What about Shikai? Would that work?" Shikamaru asked thoughtfully.

"Hmmm, it might, but we can't name him until your mother wakes up. If we did she would go crazy. And I mean off-the-rails crazy, not just normal crazy," the elder Nara replied. Shikamaru nodded in understanding. It was definitely safer to wait until Mom woke up. For both of them.

They sat down in the chairs by the bed, neither saying a word as they looked at the mother and her newborn child. It might have hours that they sat there, or just minutes, Shikamaru couldn't tell. All he saw was the rise and fall of his little brother's chest as he breathed in and out.

Eventually, his mother awoke, and when she saw her husband and eldest son sitting there, she moved to sit up, disturbing the small bundle in her arms, and causing the baby to wake as well. She scooped him up to her chest, smiling down at him.

"Would you like to hold him, dear?" she asked her husband. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He stood up and took his son in his arms, cradling him tightly, as if he might jump up and run away at any moment. Shikamaru too had his attention fixed on their newest family member.

Shikaku held out the newborn for Shikamaru to see. "You're going to have to help us raise him Shikamaru, it's your job as the older brother to guide him until he's old enough to go off by himself. You'll be able to do this, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, reaching out to touch his new brother's tiny hands. They were so small in his own toddler hands, but now he felt like a giant next to this new life. Shikaku looked over at his wife, who still looked tired, but was refusing to go back to sleep until she was sure that her men wouldn't manage to hurt the new baby before he was even a day old. "Shikamaru came up with the name 'Shikai' for him, does that work for you? I have no objections to it," he said softly.

His wife shook her head, "Shikai, that's perfect."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I didn't ever plan on doing a story, but this just kind of happened. I got too bored I suppose. Anyways, let me know if you like it or have any suggestions. This is going to be an OC story, semi self-insert, and we'll see where it goes.** **Oh and there won't be that many time skips in the actual story, I just wanted to set it up.**

 **Updates should be fast for a little while because I'm on break, but once school starts again I don't know how often I'll be able to update. I'll try to be consistent though. Maybe I'll just stock up on a bunch of extra chapters this week.**

 **Reviews are always helpful, I want to know if y'all have anything to say about this story so far. Constructive criticism is great too, as long as its cons** **tructive, I don't really want to read about how it sucks if there aren't suggestions on how to make it better. Anyways, I hope y'all liked it.**

* * *

TBC


	2. Chapter 1: Spare Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. On a side note, I tried to learn shogi in order to explain the rules, and wow is it hard. I'm awful at chess too, so that might have something to do with it, but I read the rules and strategies for half an hour and proceeded to get whooped repeatedly on the easiest difficulty.

 **Chapter 1: Spare Time**

* * *

"Shikamaruuuuu!" my mother called from downstairs. My brother had probably forgotten to clean his plate from dinner or something. Honestly, he was so lazy sometimes, but I guess I can't really talk. My name is Shikai Nara. I have an older brother, the afore mentioned Shikamaru. Our father is Shikaku Nara, the jounin commander, and the woman yelling from downstairs is our mother, Yoshino Nara.

Shikamaru groaned from where he was lying on his bed, across the room from my own. "Troublesome, who knows what she wants this time," he muttered as he reluctantly got up and made his way towards the door. I grinned; it was always fun to watch mother get on Shikamaru's case. I got up off of my bed as well, and followed him through the door and down the stairs. I made sure to keep a safe distance, in case mother saw me and decided that the kitchen needed to be swept or the deer needed to be fed.

When Shikamaru reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped and looked back at me. When he saw me smirking at him he made a face, and kept going into the kitchen. Mother looked up when she heard his footsteps stop beside her, and she gestured towards one of the seats. Shikamaru sat down, seemingly relieved that he didn't have to keep standing up.

From my position on the stairs I couldn't see what was going on, so I continued going down them and ghosted my way across the living room before sinking into our fluffy brown couch, feeling my small body be enveloped in the cushions, and feigned sleep, all the while peeking out at the table where my mother and older brother were sitting.

Luckily, my mother wasn't the quietest person, so it was easy to pick up on what the conversation entailed.

"Do you know what tomorrow is Shikamaru?" Mother was saying. That was interesting; I didn't know something special was happening tomorrow. My curiosity piqued, I leaned forward, no longer pretending to sleep, in order to better take in what was unfolding before me.

"Yes, I do, why?" Shikamaru replied lazily.

"Well you have to get ready; you can't just be lazing around all day. After all, tomorrow is your first day at the academy and you don't want to be late."

Mother truly was the only person who could motivate Shikamaru into doing anything. I zoned out of the conversation, I knew where it was going. Shikamaru would whine and moan for several minutes before caving in just because he knew he couldn't win. But what Mother said, Shikamaru's first day at the academy. Shikamaru would say it was troublesome, but I was slightly jealous that he was able to go when I couldn't yet. Also why hadn't he told me that he was going to be leaving? It's not like I would hold him back if I knew. I frowned, it didn't make sense. I stood up slowly, and walked back to my room. There must be a reason why he hadn't told me, we usually told each other everything. I sat down hard on my bed. Shikamaru was my brother, and if he didn't think I needed to know then I'd just have to trust him on that.

I picked up the book I was currently reading. It was surprisingly good for something I had picked up from the clearance section of the bookstore. It was titled 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja' and was written by a man name 'Jiraiya'. I made a mental note to see if he had written other books, because if they were even half as good as this one, I might just have to stay home and read them all until I was finished.

I was so lost in the world painted by this mysterious Jiraiya, that I didn't even notice when Shikamaru re-entered the room a quarter of an hour later. I only looked up when he cleared his throat suddenly, a little startled that there was someone else in the room we had shared for the last six years. I nodded at him to acknowledge his presence, and then looked back down at my book. Some people had no sense of timing, the hero of the story, Naruto, had just gotten into a battle with another ninja on a tree branch. But I never got the chance to finish the dramatic scene, for before I knew it I was being pulled out of my bed and out of the room.

"C'mon," Shikamaru muttered, "we're supposed to meet up with Choji and Ino later, and I want to watch some clouds before they get there." He let go of my arm when we reached the top of the stairs, and I followed him wordlessly down and to the door.

As we walked along the main path of the Nara compound we greeted several people whom we had spoken to before, but mostly there was only silence around us.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Shikamaru burst out as soon as we were out of earshot of the compound. "I just didn't want to think about it. You've always been around with me, Choji, and Ino so I didn't want to worry you. We probably won't be able to hang out often anymore because of school, and we'll see each other there so we might stop entirely. I'm sorry," Shikamaru apologized again.

I kept my face neutral as we kept walking through the streets of Konoha. The street we were on was quiet, without any vendors or people to make noise. We always took the back way to the training ground where Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had first met in order to avoid all of the people who would try to talk to us as we made our way through the streets. Neither of us wanted to converse with anyone outside of our friends, and since Mother didn't want us to talk to strangers, we had the perfect excuse.

After several minutes of walking in silence I felt as though I owed it to Shikamaru to forgive him. It wasn't like it was a huge secret, and he was just trying to look out for me. "It's alright Shika; I know you were just looking out for me. No biggie, really." Shikamaru looked at me doubtfully. I shrugged and smiled, "If we don't hurry up you won't have a chance to cloud watch, so what do you say we save the talking for later?" Now his face cleared and he nodded, probably pleased that I wasn't more angry. But it wasn't like I was more like Mother than Father. Being angry WAS a bit troublesome, so much easier to forgive and forget.

We continued the walk without a word, both of us content that we had worked out the conflict, and happy to share the silence. When the clearing came into view I saw that even though we had left early, Choji and Ino were already there. I looked over at Shikamaru and saw that he too was looking at the two of them, with an exasperated look on his face. I smirked; he was probably regretting leaving early now. Without cloud watching to drive him I sometimes thought that he wouldn't come to these gatherings at all.

"Hey Choji, Ino!" I called as soon as we came into earshot.

"Shikamaru! Shikai!" Ino yelled gleefully, turning around to sprint towards us. Shikamaru hid behind me so that he didn't have to be crushed in her hug. I raised an eyebrow at that, but reached out my arms, inviting Ino to hug me. I staggered back as she hit me at full speed, happily wrapping her arms around me. Grinning like crazy she finally let go and stepped back to look for Shikamaru. When she couldn't find him she pouted. It was rare that she got to hug him, because he always seemed to disappear for a bit whenever she showed up.

Unable to contain her good mood, Ino stopped pouting and let out a tinkling laugh, "It's been sooo looong since I last saw you Shikai, how have you been?" she asked, always one to initiate small talk.

I shrugged, "Good I guess, there hasn't been much that's happened to us in the last month. Anything on your end?"

Ino's face suddenly lit up with a wide smile, "Ooooh yes! My mother got this new order of flowers in, and there are several new ones that we haven't had before. One is white with pale pink markings, it's absolutely beautiful! You have to come see it some time," she gushed. I nodded politely. Both of us knew that unless circumstances changed drastically, I would never go out of my way to go to a flower shop just to look. "And also Daddy decided that I can start learning my clan jutsu now! It's really cool too, it allows me to take over somebody's body," she continued, and then grinned evilly, "maybe I should take over YOUR body and do some crazy things so that I won't get caught."

I blanched at this. It sounded exactly like something Ino would do. Seeing my face she doubled over laughing, and it was some minutes before she was finally able to control herself and speak again. I glanced around worriedly, hoping no one thought that I had attacked her, for she was laughing so hard tears were falling fast from her eyes.

"Don't worry, heh, I would never do that to you Shikai. Your brother is fair game though," she added thoughtfully. Glad to be out of the line of fire I just nodded and tried not to look too relieved. Looking over at the tree under which Ino and Choji had originally been talking, I saw Shikamaru sneak around from the backside of the tree. It gave me a great and absolutely horrible idea, but it was too good to pass up.

"Ino, Shikamaru is over there, under the tree," I said, pointing him out to her. Ino's eyes narrowed, before giving me another huge grin and zooming off to berate Shikamaru, and probably hug him too. Laughing quietly to myself, I followed her towards the tree, but at a much slower pace. It wouldn't do to ruin the Nara's reputation in something as trivial as this.

When I reached the tree Choji nodded at me and offered my one of his barbecue chips. Gratefully I accepted. I hadn't eaten since lunch, and normally we would be having dinner soon. Choji and I munched in silence as we watched Shikamaru unsuccessfully try to fend off Ino, but after a couple seconds he seemed to decide that it was too exhausting and gave up.

While Ino crowed her victory for all to hear, and an embarrassed Shikamaru tried to pretend he wasn't there, I turned to Choji and asked what he thought about starting the academy tomorrow.

"Well, I'm not really sure. I honestly haven't thought about it much. It's not really a big deal, right? Everyone has to do it eventually so I don't think we should make it seem all that important," Choji responded. I hadn't thought of that, it was a good point too. Choji tended to make a lot of good points now that I thought about it. If he talked more I'm sure people would listen, he always had calculated responses as if he had already planned for each possible conversation beforehand. It was a shame he only spoke if directly asked a question, otherwise he would defer to Ino or Shikamaru. If it was up to me, I would have put him in charge of our little group, Ino was too bossy and reckless, and Shikamaru would just choose the option with the least work needed.

Choji was right after all, it wasn't a big deal. It was just made to be one by our parents who still saw us as dependent kids. We grew half as fast to them as we really did. This thought made me smile as I imagined Mother bossing around Father with me and Shikamaru out of the house.

My thoughts were abruptly disturbed when an arm was slung over my shoulders. I looked over and saw Ino grinning at me, with her other hand tightly gripping Shikamaru's wrist.

"Choji's mom made us a picnic, she figured if we were going out this late we would need to have some food with us." My stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and I shifted awkwardly, embarrassed by how loud it was and hoping it had escaped the others' attention.

"Good thing she did too, it sounds like Shikai could eat it all by himself," Ino teased. I flushed bright red, making Ino and Choji laugh. Shikamaru actually smiled at that, which was something.

"Where's the food then? I'm hungry too," Shikamaru added.

Choji sat down on the soft green grass beneath the tree. Beside him was large picnic basket with a blanket on top of it. He reached over and tossed the blanket to Shikamaru, who laid it out on the ground, partially in the sun so that he could cloud gaze after we ate.

Out of the basket came lots of food cooked for us by Choji's mom, and I could hardly keep myself from leaping into it. I had been to the Akimichi's house several times, and the food their tasted like heaven.

"Hurry up Choji before Shikai goes crazy," Ino laughed, but she too was looking eagerly at the food.

"Alright, alright, jeez, there's a lot of stuff in here," came the muffled reply as Choji peered into the picnic basket to see if there was any left.

I couldn't wait a second longer. I plopped down on the blanket and quickly snagged a sandwich. I hurriedly unwrapped the plastic wrap around it. As I stuffed my face with the sandwich Ino and Shikamaru joined me on the blanket, Ino also grabbing a sandwich while Shikamaru decided to go with an apple.

Choji looked up after placing the last of the food on the blanket, "Wow guys," he said drily, "thanks for waiting for me."

I swallowed my bite a little faster than I probably should have, "Anytime," I grunted, inhaling another mouthful of my sandwich.

"This must be a first, Choji being the last to start a meal," Ino chirped brightly.

Grabbing a handful of chips, Choji responded crisply, "And the last."

* * *

Movement in the room woke me up much too early. Blearily I opened my eyes, closing them suddenly as the piercing morning light from the open window shone right on my pillow.

"Shikamaru, is that you?" I asked, eyes shut firmly.

"Yeah, you can go back to sleep. I have to get up now if I want to get to school on time." He replied softly.

I needed no further invitation, and was asleep again almost immediately. It wasn't until almost noon that I woke up for good, finally refreshed from staying out late the night before. I smiled remembering how Ino dumped a bowl of rice on Shikamaru's unsuspecting hair after we finished eating. She definitely picked her targets well, always the people who couldn't be motivated to retaliate.

I sighed. It was going to be lonely for a while without those three to be around. Shikamaru I could still see, but it wouldn't be the same. His attention would be more focused on the academy than me from now on. It sounded pretty selfish, but those three were all I had.

I sat up on my bed, knocking something off of it and onto the floor. I bent over to pick it up. It was my book 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja'. Huh, now would be an ideal time to do all that reading I was thinking about yesterday. With that thought in mind I vowed to finish 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja' that day, and then go to the library to look for more books by this 'Jiraiya'.

The story was actually quite intriguing. It was about a ninja who had no spectacular skills or inherited talents, who through guts and determination alone managed to succeed and accomplish his goals. I became so absorbed in it that I didn't notice how late it had gotten until I heard something dragging across the floor into my room. Looking up, I saw that it was Shikamaru, already back from school, and looking completely exhausted. I opened my mouth to ask him how it went, but he held up a hand to stall my questions and collapsed onto his own bed, asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

I just stared at my older brother for a second, astonished that the academy could be that draining to someone who most likely slept through half of it. Maybe I didn't want to go to this place; it seemed rather harsh and depressing. With that happy thought I returned to the world in my book, where hard work always prevailed, and it was important to keep your word above all else.

It wasn't until late in the night that I finally finished the book. The ending was so beautiful that I just sat there for a while, taking it in. I never would have thought that the hero would have had to sacrifice himself to save those that he loved in order to resolve the conflict. I thought hard about who I would be willing to do that for, who in my life was worth the ultimate sacrifice? I had to admit, the list wasn't long. It was a little sad. The hero was willing to do it for so many people, and I only had a handful.

This bothered me for hours. Eventually I fell into an uneasy, dreamless sleep, but the next morning the thought was still stuck in my head like the password to some puzzle. Shikamaru and father were both gone by the time I came downstairs, and Mother had already cleaned up from breakfast. I wasn't really that hungry, so I just dug in the pantry and pulled out a granola bar.

Mom would be proud of me for that, I thought smiling. Getting up and eating a protein bar without anyone making me. I chewed it slowly; Shika was at school, so I could do almost anything I wanted to today. I finished my bar and tossed the wrapper in the trash.

Since there wasn't anything I particularly wanted to do at home, I decided to go to the library and find more books written by Jiraiya.

"Mom, I'm going out for a bit," I called as I left the house. She probably heard me. Looking around I saw that there were already many people out in the streets. I had never been out this early, so to me it seemed as though the amount of people in Konoha had doubled. Turning around, I decided to walk along the streets me and Shikamaru usually took, but even they now had people on them.

It took me twenty minutes to reach the library by going the long way to avoid the main roads. I walked through the large double doors of the four story building. I had never been here before, but I hadn't been most places, so it didn't bother me.

Walking up to the librarian on duty, I pulled out 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja' and asked, "Are there any books written by Jiraiya in the library?"

The librarian made a face of disgust. She looked up from where she was documenting book returns, and then, not seeing anyone, she looked down at me, and her face immediately morphed into shock.

'It must be because there aren't many six year olds who come to the library by themselves,' I thought privately, a little proud of myself for that. Until she continued, and I realized that it was some other unknown reason.

"You might want to choose different books to read, you aren't old enough to read books by Jiraiya just yet. I can't imagine how you managed to get one at your age," she added, and then handed me a map of the library. "You should check out the kids section if you really want to read something, the books there are more appropriate."

I took the map, feeling a little disappointed that I wasn't allowed to read any more of Jiraiya's books. It was a pity. I had been hoping to find a sequel to the one I had already read, but I supposed I could check out the children's section, it couldn't hurt.

Yeah, that's what I thought before I got there. An hour later I was back at home, the kids section was that bad. The first book I had picked up was about a brother and sister whose home had been invaded by a giant cat wearing a striped hat. Note to self, if you see a cat wearing a striped hat, do NOT let it in your house.

I was out back feeding the deer when Shikamaru finally got home. I had never realized how much we did together until that option was gone. I finished dumping the feed, quickly stowing the barrel next to the hose, and walked into the house.

I caught sight of Shikamaru at the top of the stairs before he turned the corner. I followed him up the stairs and into our room and found him sitting on his bed, looking at a sheet of paper, mumbling to himself, pencil in hand.

"What's that?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

Not looking up, Shikamaru replied casually, "Homework, you want to try? It's really fun. It's like a puzzle. They give you facts and you have to match those facts to the answers."

Intrigued, I nodded and took the paper and pencil Shikamaru handed me. The first question asked, 'If you have two friends and seven apples, and many apples are left over if each of you gets the same amount of apples?'

"If you need any help, I'll be over here," Shikamaru said, already rolling over to go to asleep.

Deciding I'd ask him how school had gone after I finished all of these questions, I set about answering them. Most of them were pretty easy, simple math Shika had taught me over a year ago. The ones I had trouble with were the questions that asked about the different countries and which ones had hidden villages. That one stumped me, but I knew Father had several maps in his study, so I was able to figure it out without much of a problem by borrowing one of those maps.

The map was actually rather interesting. According to it there were four other major hidden villages besides Konoha. There was the village hidden in the sand, the village hidden in the mist, the village hidden in the stones, and the village hidden in the clouds, as well as countless other smaller hidden villages. But there weren't any questions on any of those smaller villages, so I just glossed over them, choosing to focus on the ones of relevance.

I was so engrossed in my discovery of other places like my own city that I went back down to Father's study and took several large books on the villages of the elemental nations. I learned about the scorching deserts of Suna that was home to the shinobi of the hidden sand village. I read of the islands that made up Kiri, where the village hidden in the mist was located. Iwa and the village hidden in the stones didn't interest me greatly; it seemed rather plain and boring, almost as though it was trying to copy Kumo and the village hidden in the clouds. Actually, that made sense to me. Kumo seemed to be the strongest of all the elemental nations, so it was reasonable that others would try to copy them.

I finished up the geography questions and laid down the paper and Shikamaru's pencil. That had taken longer than I thought it would. I grabbed the map and books I had taken from Father's study. When I got back from returning them, I found Shikamaru going over the paper, nodding to himself as he read what I had written.

He paused when he got to the geographical questions, and looked up at my anxious face.

"You don't have to write your take on the countries," he said exasperatedly, "all you have to do is name the country it's asking about. No details or whys are needed."

I hesitated. It had seemed good to cover each base at the time, but as Shikamaru pointed it out I felt my facing heating up.

"Right," I mumbled, looking down at my feet.

Then Shikamaru laughed, actually laughed. I looked up surprised that he had shown that much emotion.

"This is good!" he said ecstatically, "Most people in my class won't have gotten everything right."

Feeling better, I looked up smiling. "It wasn't that hard, just math. The only parts I didn't know were the maps," I murmured quietly.

"I figured you wouldn't know them. I only learned about them yesterday at school. How did you figure it out? The way you wrote the answers was pretty detailed…." Shikamaru questioned me.

"Well, you know how Father keeps lots of books and maps in his study?" I began slowly.

Shikamaru face palmed. "Of course. Only you would voluntarily look something up to do homework," he finished for me.

I hesitated, then I nodded, "Asking someone would have taken too long and there would be a good chance I wouldn't understand it anyway."

Shikamaru just stared at me. After a couple seconds, it started feeling uncomfortable, so I glanced away and looked out the window. I looked back at Shikamaru when he opened his mouth to speak.

"You realize that those books are adult level, right?" my brother asked.

I nodded again.

Shikamaru sat down on his bed. I could tell he was thinking from the way his mouth puckered up and his eyebrows scrunched together. I turned towards the bookshelves we kept in our room, knowing well enough that he might sit like that for an hour or more before he made a decision and spoke again. Or he might just fall asleep like that, it had happened before.

I ran my hands over the spines of the many books there, unsure which one to pick. I stopped at one with big black lettering, and was about to pull it off of the shelf when I heard Shikamaru stand up behind me. Spinning around, I noticed that he was holding the shogi board he used whenever he played with Father. This surprised me. As far as I knew, Father wasn't scheduled to come home for another hour at least.

"Play a game against me Shikai," Shika said, taking a seat on the floor and beginning to set up the shogi board.

I didn't have anything against it, so I took a seat opposite Shikamaru. He handed me half of the pieces, and I set them up so that they were opposite Shikamaru's. When I was finished he looked them over to make sure I had done it correctly. Nonchalantly switching my rook and bishop so that the rook was on the right side, he brought up the question that determined what would happen next.

"Do you know how to play?" Shikamaru asked.

Unsure how to respond, I hesitated before answering, "I've watched you and father play, but I've never played myself."

Shikamaru nodded, understanding what I was trying to say. "Well it's simple in principal," he began, choosing his words carefully. "The first rank, which is your back line, contains starting from the middle, your king, which can move one space in any direction. On either side of the king are your gold generals, which can move one space in every direction excluding going backwards diagonally. Next to the gold generals are the silver generals, which go forwards both diagonally and straight, but cannot go sideways and only go backwards diagonally. After the silver generals comes the knights, who go forwards only in an 'L' shape, two up and one to the side, and are the only pieces that can jump another piece in order to move. The last pieces in the row are the lances, which can go forward an infinite amount but can neither retreat nor move sideways."

I nodded, trying to keep up. I knew most of this already, but it was still a lot to take in.

Shikamaru was still dutifully continuing his explanation, "In the second rank, one in on either side, above the knights, are the rook and the bishop. The rook is on the right, and can move infinitely in a straight line, while the bishop is on the left and moves infinitely in diagonal lines. The third rank is entirely filled up with pawns, which move one step forward."

He took a breath, planning to keep going until he had explained every concept of the game to me in order that I might pick it all up in one sitting.

"Shika, it's fine. I know the basics of how drops work, and capturing, and promotions, so you don't have to keep explaining it to me," I said smiling. "Just go a little easy on me at first," I added, after the thought of being beaten mercilessly in less than a minute occurred.

Slightly taken aback, Shikamaru nodded at me, seemingly understanding that I while I knew the rules, I had never played before, and therefore wouldn't be any good. At least I thought he understood, until the game was over and we were only seven moves in.

"Sorry about that," Shikamaru grunted, aware that he had misjudged my skill, "let's go again."

So we played shogi for the rest of the afternoon. Neither of us noticing when Father came home, and checked on us thirty minutes later. By dinnertime I had developed into a decent shogi player, and was occasionally able to give Shikamaru a good game. Sadly those occasions weren't the norm. Most games consisted of my brother slicing right through any strategy I had, leading to me being on the defensive throughout almost all of our games.

It wasn't until Mother's daily cry of "Dinner!" that we finally stopped playing. Unsurprisingly, I was slightly more frustrated once we had finished, having failed to win a single game.

No one said a word as we ate. Father had been needed for some special meeting that included all of the jounin, so it was only me, Shika, and Mother. I finished as quickly as possible, and after putting my plate in the dishwasher I climbed the stairs back to my room and dove straight onto my bed. It had been an exhausting day for me, since I had gone to the library, actually done my chores, and tried to outsmart Shikamaru for hours, I had been surprisingly active today. I curled up into a tiny ball, pulling my blankets up around me to conserve warmth. It took barely any time at all before I was already drifting away.

* * *

I woke up early the next morning. It was the first time I had woken up to Father's alarm clock. That meant it was only 4:30 in the morning. Great, I already knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, so I didn't bother to try. I made up my mind and headed outside to feed the deer. While I was feeding them I had plenty of time to come up with something to do today. But even though I thought up many different and unique ideas, I couldn't think of a single one that either wasn't too difficult or wasn't engaging enough.

Feeling slightly disgusted with my brain at that moment, I finished up feeding the deer and headed inside. If I had nothing to do I could always ask Ino or Choji if they had any ideas. As soon as I thought that I started mentally berating myself. It had been simple, who doesn't think of hanging out with friends when they try to think of something to do.

I shuffled back into the room I shared with my older brother, and found Shikamaru struggling to get out of bed.

"Hey Shika," I started, watching his continued efforts to free himself from his bed sheet. "Can you ask Ino and Choji if they want to hang out after school today?"

Shikamaru grunted, and taking that as affirmation that he would, I turned around and headed back downstairs and into the kitchen, where Mother had just finished setting out bowls and a box of cereal and milk for breakfast. I poured out a bowl for myself and scarfed it down.

While coming downstairs for breakfast I had passed Father's study, and it had made me recall the books and maps I had looked at the day before, and I was curious enough that I wanted to go to the library again and look up other things on the elemental nations.

When I arrived there, I checked the map the librarian had given me yesterday. Assuming geography was under 'World Facts and History' I headed for the back corner of the first floor. The selection to choose from was a little disappointing. Due to the fact that I was not even an academy student, I didn't have the clearance to read some of the more detailed or restricted books on the upper floors.

However there was still plenty I could learn. Most of the books on the first floor were for civilians or academy students who wanted to do extra research on one subject or another, so almost everything here would be a new experience for me.

I delved into the history of the great shinobi nations for several hours, fascinated by the differing history and experiences of people with so much in common. Despite the lack of detail, I was most interested in the third shinobi world war, since it was the most recent conflict that was crucial to all villages. It was also exciting to read about the exploits of Minato Namikaze, who later became the fourth Hokage, and how he single handedly turned the war against Iwa in Konoha's favor.

Eventually I had read enough to satisfy my sudden thirst for knowledge, and since it was almost time for lunch, I decided to head back home. As I walked through town, I abruptly realized that I had just researched the history of the world, but still didn't know much about the own home city. This seemed rather troublesome, and if I wanted to rectify this I would have to go exploring at the next opportunity.

The next opportunity just so happened to be right after lunch, which came as more of a surprise than it probably should have, for I hadn't had anything planned for the afternoon, except potentially meeting up with Ino and Choji. I must have subconsciously assumed that Mother would take the first chance she got to put me to work, and that was slightly scary if I was having those sorts of thoughts without a specific reason to. Obviously I really did need to get out of the house a little more if this was something that was happening to me regularly.

I slowly wandered the streets of Konoha, still favoring the less crowded roads, but since I was exploring I couldn't be picky if I wanted to see everything. There were a great many clothes shops and cafes along my path that I had never noticed.

I saw several people I had never met before, but thought I recognized just based on their appearances, if it was similar to that of a clan. Most of the people out on the streets were civilians, and not part of any of Konoha's clans. I tried to avoid people as much as I could, not wanting to get dragged into discussions about parents who would let their young children out on their own. I had been in that conversation so often already that I practically had it memorized.

The city seemed much bigger when you were in the middle of it, I thought as I sat down on a bench. I had managed to find a park on the outskirts of Konoha where hardly anyone ventured. Or maybe people did come here and I had just gotten lucky. I wouldn't have been surprised if they did, it was a beautiful park, full of those trees that only seemed to grow here in Konoha from what I had read. I recalled that they were called 'Hashirama' trees, after the first Hokage, but I couldn't remember exactly why.

Nevertheless, it was a truly magnificent park. It wasn't very large, but it had that quality of nature that made you seem small and insignificant. Off to one side was a fountain with two levels of waterfalls cascading from the cement layers. There was a path that winded around the outside of the park, and it lead up to this fountain, almost like it was what people came to the park to see. I closed my eyes, listening to the birds chirping, the spray of the water from the fountain making a soothing noise, just on the edge of my hearing. As I sat I could still picture the park, with the trees in all of their glory. It was so peaceful that I wondered why I had never bothered to look for a place like this before. That was my last coherent thought before I nodded off.

My dreams were restless, and I stirred constantly. I kept picturing black hair pushed back in the wind, and people just lying in the middle of the streets of some place I had never seen. And red, the horrible, piercing red. It filled my entire dream, the frightening color was all I could see, and it was flecked with pieces of black, like multiple pupils, all staring right at me and through me. Seeing me, yet seeing that I was already gone. Already dead.

I screamed, waking up from the scarring dream, shaking violently. I looked up quickly when I heard the rush of wind and my ears filled with squawks. It was only the birds. I must have scared them when I awoke.

I took a deep breath. I was fine. Everything was fine. I took another deep breath, and slowly got to my feet, trying to keep steady. I looked up and saw that it was much later than I had planned on getting home, and that Shika would already be back. He was probably wondering where I was at this exact moment. With that in mind, I pushed up from the bench and made my way back home.

By the time I arrived, I was almost back to normal. Shikamaru was waiting for me when I finally stopped in the doorway to the room we shared. I waited for him to say something, and when his answer came I was somewhat relieved.

"This weekend they can meet up with us. Same place, of course, unless you had somewhere else in mind?" Shikamaru asked me, not wanting to exclude my opinion in the matter.

My mind flew back to the park, before I pushed it out of my mind. It wasn't the park I was scared of, it was just a coincidence that it happened there I told myself. Still, I hesitated. Coming to a decision, I responded crisply, "No, the normal place is fine."

I wanted to keep the park to myself for a little longer, at least long enough to completely explore it.

I walked to my bed and sat down. It sagged beneath me as I threw myself back on it, pulling my covers up over my head.

"Don't wake me for dinner," I mumbled through a mouthful of blankets. I couldn't see my brother, but I imagined him nodding. It didn't take long before I succumbed to the sleep that had been interrupted by my panic attack, and like requested, I wasn't woken until the next morning.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Well, umm, this is awkward. I meant to get all the way up to the academy graduation in this chapter, but, obviously, that didn't happen. I've planned to have two or three more chapters before academy graduation, but I might change my mind. Sorry about having so much fluff here at the beginning. My excuse? Ahh, umm, err, universe building?**

 **Reviews are always welcome, hope y'all enjoyed the first actual chapter.**

 **Question:** _(I got this idea from reading Darkpetal16's stories, which are great btw, definitely check them out.)_

 _Let's start simple, favorite Naruto character?_

 _I will post my answer in the next chapter, so you can find out if you wanted to know. :)_

* * *

TBC


	3. Chapter 2: Feeling the Unfeelable

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kinda disappointing right? Imagine all the cool things that would have happened if I owned Naruto, but nope. Now you have to read my stories to know what would have happened.

 **Chapter 2: Feeling the Unfeelable**

* * *

"It's not fair," Shikamaru whined, "why do only I have to do it? Shikai should have to learn too."

I turned away from the growing argument. Father was trying to convince Shikamaru that he needed to start learning the clan jutsu, but he wasn't making much progress for my older brother was being surprisingly resilient.

"He's still too young to learn it Shikamaru," our father said wearily, still presenting the same reason that he had for the last half hour, and the same reason why Shikamaru hadn't started learning the jutsu years ago.

Sighing, I tried to tune out the heated voices coming from right next to me. Both of them didn't seem as though they would be backing down anytime soon. The only thing I had to be thankful for was that Mother wasn't the one in the argument at that moment, it would be a lot louder if she was. Actually, it would more than likely have already finished if she was.

I sighed again.

It continued on for several minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. "Shikamaru, you have to do it because it's the clan jutsu, everyone has to do it. If it makes you feel better I'll do it too, but I don't think I'll get any results if Father says that I'm too young."

Shikamaru grunted and rolled his eyes. He probably didn't care if I did it or not, and was just using me as a convenient excuse to get out of work. I imagined most people would get pretty mad if they were used as a reason why Shika didn't have to do something, but after growing up with this happening at least twice a day I was used to it.

Plus now I got to learn how to do our family jutsu, in theory at least. If the expression of Father's weather beaten face was anything to go by, I would accomplish about as much as Shikamaru was planning on achieving. In other words, I would understand Father's introduction to the jutsu and could zone out after that for all the good it would do me.

But unless I tried Shikamaru definitely wouldn't put any effort into. Thus I was allowed to follow Father and my older brother out into the tree filled backyard filled with overgrown grass and weeds.

It had been several days since Shikamaru had started attending the academy, and I while I could now finish all of the questions on the sheets of paper Shikamaru regularly brought home, I was quickly beginning to lose interest in them. Apparently I was learning more by going to the library everyday than my brother's class was learning when they went to school.

I was slowly starting to understand why Shikamaru slept so much, and it wasn't only because he was lazy. I was looking forward to seeing how Ino and Choji were managing the same workload and lessons my older brother received. They were in the same class, but I had a feeling that they were getting more out of it than Shikamaru was. Ever since the first day when he had come back exhausted, he had returned from school each day better rested than when he set out after sleeping through the entire night.

I was now glad that I wasn't yet forced to go to the academy. It seemed like a waste of a perfectly good day, especially when each week seemed to accomplish what should be learned in a single day.

At least, that's what I assumed based on what I had learned from Shikamaru. I was trying not to pass judgement since I didn't have first-hand experience there, but it seemed to me as though everything could be run much more efficiently.

I came back to earth as my father stopped walking and turned around facing the two of us. He had his hands on his hips like Mother did when she was telling us off, and I wondered if that was where he had gotten this particular quirk.

"You both need to understand that this training is very dangerous, there is a reason why only the members of our clan are able to successfully use this jutsu," Father stated clearly.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "It can't be that hard if Father knows it," he muttered to me out of the corner of his mouth. I smirked at that, but quickly rearranged my features when I saw our father narrow his eyes.

"This isn't a joke Shikamaru, it is a delicate jutsu that takes a lot of chakra, and without concentration it can be very dangerous," he said. Pausing for a moment, he checked to make sure we were both paying attention, albeit reluctantly, before continuing, "That is why I will be instructing you in the arts of our clan, and watching over you as you attempt to master the secrets that have been passed down through our clan for generations."

Father looked at us briefly, Shikamaru and I staring back, both of us with slightly glazed over looks. It wasn't much of a stretch to say that we weren't exactly the most eager students, which as Shikamaru had so aptly put it earlier, didn't seem to matter much since Father had indeed mastered the jutsu, and if the rumors I heard passed around were anything to go by, advanced the jutsu so that it was even more deadly than before.

Father sighed, seemingly fed up with either us as students or the fact that he had to teach us something, and began his instructions in the first steps of the shadow possession jutsu. "The whole purpose behind the shadow possession jutsu is that it will enable you to use something that is already a part of you and won't seem out of place. A sneak attack if you will. At first, you should try to feel your shadow as an extension of your body, almost as a fifth limb, for in time it should become as natural as if you were simple moving an arm or a leg. Once you think you can feel your shadow, try putting some of your chakra into it, just a little at a time, until it seems filled up."

I subtly glanced over at Shikamaru and could have sworn he had drool coming out of his mouth. Of course he was sleeping, what else could I have expected.

Father appeared not to notice. "Well get a move on you two. I'll be right back. I'm going to get a cup of coffee," he added, already moving towards the door.

My eyes reproachfully followed his back as he made his way into the house. We both knew he wasn't coming back anytime soon. Or I did, at least, Shikamaru still appeared to be asleep.

Well whatever, might as well make the most of this I thought sullenly. I mentally tried to reach beneath me and feel my shadow. I strained myself for several minutes, still trying to feel something that was completely unsolid, before I realized how completely stupid I must look. My face heating up slightly, I poked Shikamaru awake.

"You have to at least try, Father might be watching us right now," I said reasonably.

Shikamaru raised his head sleepily, "Father doesn't scare me," he muttered in a wheezy voice.

"Mother then," I admonished exasperatedly.

Sure enough, Shikamaru seemed to shake himself awake, glancing over his shoulder at the windows behind us.

I decided to take a short break and watch as Shikamaru struggled to feel his shadow. Eventually he too felt as though it was pointless and stopped. He looked over at me standing there and made a face.

"Continue or nah?" I asked him, already knowing the answer.

Shikamaru shook his head rather deliberately. He looked content to wait until I figured it out, and then copy off of me.

I thought about what Father had told us about the jutsu. He wouldn't have given us a task that we couldn't figure out. All he had told us was to feel our shadows like an extension of our bodies. I frowned, it didn't make any sense.

Feeling frustrated I looked for Shikamaru, hoping he at least was doing better than I was, but he was no longer where I had last seen him. I glanced around and found him sitting up against one of the tall trees in our backyard.

"Keep going, you're doing great," he called mockingly from his place on the ground.

Refusing to take the bait, I tried once again to feel out my shadow, something I had forever taken for granted as being merely an abstract concept for the darkened patch beneath us where light was blocked from its path.

Growling with irritation, I stopped once again. Shikamaru was looking awfully smug from his seat beneath that tree, and it was starting to lose its humor. I ground my teeth together as I tried to reason what Father was trying to get us to do in this exercise. Looking at the problem from a logical perspective it was impossible to interact directly with our shadows, but that meant that it had to do specifically with us, why we were able to use our clan jutsu, what made us different from everyone else.

I looked at Shikamaru. What made us different from everyone else. No, that wasn't right I thought, shaking my head to clear my mind. Maybe it was a metaphorical difference, one that wasn't apparent or couldn't be seen regularly. I thought hard but came up with nothing.

Dropping to the ground as well, I laid down on my back, getting a clear view of the pale blue sky. I had never understood what Shikamaru saw in cloud watching, it seemed terribly boring to me, but maybe the lack of excitement was what was enjoyable for him.

I didn't remember closing my eyes, but the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake. I squinted up at the face above me.

"Huh," I managed to get out, causing the violent shaking to cease. Slowly rolling over, I pushed myself up onto my knees. The first thing I noticed was that it was late and the sun had already set. I looked around for who had woken me, and found Father attempting to wake Shikamaru as well. Apparently we had both given up on the jutsu and had decided to steal some sleep, even if it was sort of accidental.

Luckily Father didn't seem to upset that we hadn't figured it out yet as we stumbled into the house behind him, still half asleep. I dully watched Father disappear into his room, before I lead Shikamaru up the stairs and into the room we shared. We both climbed into bed and went right back to sleep without a second's thought.

* * *

"Mother could you please pass the jam," I asked pleasantly.

"Of course dear," she replied, passing me the item in question.

I grabbed my knife and dipped it into the jar, spreading the jam I pulled out all over my toast. I set my knife down and took a bite. Not quite up to Akimichi standards, but still quite good.

Shikamaru and I were planning to meet up with Choji and Ino after breakfast at the usual training ground. I couldn't wait to tell them about all the interesting facts and stories I had read while they were in school.

Smiling, I finished up my toast and wiped my mouth with the napkin by my plate.

"Hurry up Shika," I said, standing up and going to wash my plate. Shikamaru was silent, preferring to finish his own piece of toast over responding.

I went up to our room to grab a light jacket. A cold front had just come through fire country and I was one of the few people who were happy about it, but I still wasn't going outside without a coat. When I got back down Shikamaru was ready to go.

It wasn't until we reached the street that he started complaining. "I just saw them yesterday, why are we going to see them again?" he started huskily. "And it's really cold, why are we going outside in this?"

I sighed. This was going to be a long walk, and it wasn't even that far away. I picked up my pace a little, knowing that Shikamaru would lag behind and I wouldn't have to listen to his insistent grumbling.

I angled my head down to keep my face better protected from the biting wind. If I wasn't so bored at home, and had seen our friends every day like Shikamaru had, I definitely wouldn't be pushing us on, but that wasn't the case, so I didn't give a second thought to Shikamaru's complaining.

We reached the training ground rather quickly thanks to my pushed pace, arriving a good ten minutes before the scheduled meeting time. Ino and Choji weren't there, but I could hear several raised voices coming from the park on the other side of the street. Looking over I saw a large group of girls, all around academy age, talking and picking flowers. Narrowing my eyes I looked closely. It seemed almost as though the majority of them were ganging up on a pink haired girl who seemed to be crying.

"Shikamaru, don't you think we should help them?" I asked, unsure of what to do. I had learned from dealing with Ino that girls could be unpredictable, even when you were trying to help them they might not want it or feel insulted, or really have any probable or improbable reaction.

But even as I said that a blonde girl came to the pink haired girl's rescue. She was surprisingly loud; I could almost tell what she was saying from this far away. Looking closer I realized that the blonde girl, who had now driven off all of the others, looked quite familiar.

"Ino!" I yelled, hoping my voice would carry all the way to her.

I saw her straighten up – she had been bending over talking to the pink haired girl – and turn to face us. Her eyes lighted on us and she waved exuberantly before turning back to the other girl. She must have said something because the girl nodded, no longer crying.

Ino skipped over to us, "Why are you here early?" she asked laughing.

"Just left too early, I suppose," Shikamaru mumbled unenthusiastically.

"Who was that girl with the pink hair?" I asked Ino.

She shrugged in reply. "She's in our class, but I don't really know her. From what I know she isn't a very good student and is really shy. She gets picked on a lot because she has a really big forehead, that's what you saw just now."

"Oh," I said, unsure how I was really supposed to respond to that. Then a thought struck me. "Why were you here so early?" I asked as it occurred to me that there was no reason for a group of academy students that large to be together on a day off, especially when they were clearly not all friends.

"All the girls have to take kunoichi classes once a week," Ino answered, making a face to show what she thought of that particularly fantastic idea.

Shikamaru sniggered, and both Ino and I turned to him, assuming he was going to add something. He looked directly at Ino and said, "Yesterday in class you were boasting that you were going to be getting special lessons and would learn way more than us."

Ino's face went bright red. "Not true at all," she stuttered.

"Uh huh, sure," Shikamaru smirked.

"Hey guys!" a voice called out from behind us. I turned around and immediately saw Choji walking towards us from the direction Shikamaru and I had come from.

"Hey Choji!" me and Ino chorused. Shikamaru just waved his hand in acknowledgement. Together we walked over to the lone tree that we had held our picnic under earlier that week. After we reached the tree I let loose the question that had been plaguing me for the last week.

"What's the academy like?" the words burst out before I could contain myself. Ino and Choji looked at each other while Shikamaru sat down in the grass with his back against the tree, closing his eyes to bask in the shade it provided.

"It's alright," Choji responded. "Most of what we learn is review so that the civilian students can catch up to us, but there's some math and stuff that I didn't know. Shikamaru always seems to get 100's so it might just be us that don't know it."

I ducked my head, a little embarrassed at the prospect that I knew more than Choji and Ino. I had expected that they would give a more enthusiastic response than Shikamaru had when I first received a reply from him on the subject, but it seemed more as though it just wasn't worth the time.

"Maybe it gets better later on once the other kids have caught up?" I suggested. It did make sense that they would need to help kids who hadn't learned what would be needed later on and school them in the fundamentals right away. From a teaching perspective it would be easier if all of the kids were at the same point in the academy once tougher concepts were introduced to the class.

Coming back to reality, I noticed that Shikamaru was pointing out everything important from the weeks lessons. I decided to listen in just in case I didn't know some of it. It was mostly algebra and geography, things I had done in the homework or learned from the library.

Ino was nodding every few seconds, while Choji stared off into the distance. It might have looked like he wasn't paying attention, but I would be willing to bet that he could recite back what Shikamaru had just said word for word.

I sat down, joining the circle that now consisted of all four of us. It was easy to enjoy the comradery here when all week long I had been alone at the library or doing chores to keep busy.

"Ino, have you gotten any farther in your clan jutsu?" I asked, suddenly remembering that she had started it before we had.

The conversation paused and Ino whipped her head around to look at me. She frowned slightly, then said, "No, I've been working on it every day after school 'cause Daddy says it's important that I learn it now while I still have time, but I haven't progressed to the next stage yet."

"Shika and I had to start it last night, it was pretty bad," I mentioned to her.

She brightened up at that. "Your clan uses shadows to do stuff, right? How does that training work?" Ino enquired, eyebrows scrunching together trying to puzzle it out.

"Yes, we use shadows, and the training, uhh, well, you have to FEEL your shadow first, and Shika and I had a hard time with that. It doesn't make sense, how are you supposed to feel a shadow when it isn't solid?" I stated knowingly.

Ino giggled, "I bet you two gave up after five minutes."

Shika grunted, making Ino's laughter grow even louder. Choji cracked a smile too, and after a moment entered into the conversation. "My father hasn't even started teaching me our clan jutsu yet, so you shouldn't feel bad about it, at least you've started," he stated while Ino struggled to control her mirth.

Ino's laughter was infectious, and after a second I began to grin as well. "What are your other classmates like?" I asked no one specifically. I didn't know anyone outside of my family or this small group, so I was interested to find out about new people, just not quite interested enough to actually go meet them.

It was Choji who responded to my question, neither Ino nor Shikamaru in any position to answer, even though Shikamaru was just sitting there with his eyes closed.

Starting with a cough to gain my attention, Choji said, "There are actually quite a few others. Most are civilians, but there's also an Uchiha, an Inuzuka, an Aburame, and a Hyuuga."

"You missed Uzumaki," Shikamaru pointed out from his position on the other side of the circle. Even though it didn't look like he was paying attention, he was always listening.

"He's not in our class though," Choji argued, "he's just really loud."

Shikamaru frowned at that. "Really?" he asked suspiciously, "I hadn't noticed."

"That's what you get for sleeping during class," Ino finally chimed in, her laughter finally abated. I grinned. It wasn't often that we were able to crowd Shikamaru into a corner. Even though I had some of the Nara's famed intellect as well, and Ino and Choji weren't slow by any stretch of the imagination, Shikamaru still constantly managed to get the better of us.

Eyes drooping closed, Shikamaru slumped back against the tree. We waited for his response, but after minutes of silence came and went we each came to the conclusion that he had just gone to sleep.

"Ha!" Ino exclaimed exuberantly, "take that Shikamaru, we win this round!"

I watched the byplay, smiling slightly to myself. I noticed Shikamaru give a slight twitch when Ino yelled, the only proof that he was awake.

Now that I had my friends around my again, all of the loneliness suddenly crashed down on my and I fell backwards onto the ground, throwing my hands up behind me. It was nice to just look at the sky once in a while. Not for the first time I felt like Shikamaru had the right idea in cloud watching.

It was a little astonishing how much having a couple of friends around you really changed your perspective on things. The entire week I had been trying to do as much as possible, without giving effort of course, in order to not just sit around all day. Now all I wanted was to lay here and relax forever. I closed my eyes, the exhaustion consuming my desire to socialize. Choji and Ino started talking about one of their school subjects, but I couldn't hear what. It didn't take long before I joined my older brother in sleep.

When I finally woke up it was late afternoon, and the sun was shining bright overhead. I squinted while letting my eyes adjust, and noticed a small weight on my chest. I opened my eyes slightly so that I could see what it was. My face was immediately enveloped in an ocean of blonde hair. I scrunched up my nose and shook my head trying to dislodge it, without waking what could only be Ino.

Finally free of the hair, I looked around for Shikamaru and Choji, the two of which were sleeping soundly, backs against the tree. I sighed quietly. I didn't want to move because then I would wake Ino, but at the same time I didn't want to just lie here for who knows how long.

And I wasn't tired either. So I didn't have that option, which was the best possible one at that point. I decided to wait for as long as I possibly could before moving. If I was lucky they would all wake up before I ran out of patience.

Almost immediately after making my decision I got an itch on my side under Ino's shoulder. I sighed again. This was going to be tough.

I tried distracting myself by counting and categorizing all the different types of birds I could see from my limited range. There were quite a few birds, but most of what I could see was doves and pigeons. This didn't last very long before I was already bored of it. I grimaced. I didn't think I was going to make it.

Ever so gently I tried to lift Ino off of me to and set her down beside me. But either she was a very light sleeper or I wasn't nearly as gentle as I thought I was, for as soon as I began lifting her up she stirred.

I immediately stopped moving, but the damage was already done. Ino yawned and pushed off of me to sit up on the ground. She stretched and looked up at the sky, frowning when she saw how late it was.

"That was a good nap," she remarked, finally lowering her gaze back down to earth. "Shikamaru and Choji haven't woken up yet, have they?" she continued.

I sat up too and pointed over at the old tree where they were still sleeping. Ino stared in the direction I had given, her eyes trailing over the forms of the two boys. She snorted in a very unladylike fashion.

"They sure look peaceful don't they," she asked rhetorically, a sly grinning spreading across her face.

Her creepy smile made me hesitate. "Yeah…." I said slowly, trailing off at the end.

Ino started walking towards the two other boys, pulling a black marker out of her pocket. I slowly ambled along behind her. I stopped about ten feet away as she kneeled down next to Shikamaru and Choji and uncapped the marker.

"That's not a very original prank Ino, in fact it's often used in books and movies," I commented drily. She turned to give me a small glare.

"If you have a better idea feel free to share it," she hissed.

I quickly retreated, seeing that I'd made her mad. "But that's because it's so great, if it wasn't good people wouldn't keep using it," I added hastily, spreading my hands in the universal gesture of peace.

She kept glaring at me, and I shuffled my feet nervously, looking down at them to avoid the angry girl's gaze. Eventually I looked back up to see Ino making art on the available surfaces. I watched her carefully. It was oddly fascinating to see the designs she drew, but I also felt rather uneasy. I shivered, seemingly feeling a pair of eyes staring right at us, but when I looked around I saw no one.

Shrugging it off I returned to peering over Ino's shoulder at the marks she was leaving. I squinted at the ink, trying to make out what she had drawn. It didn't look anything remotely like something I'd seen before.

I backed up a little to give Ino more space. I thought that this sort of prank was overused and a bit immature, but I wasn't going to tell her that. Taking a seat in the green grass of the field, I rolled back on my hands so that I could see the clouds. There were several drifting lazily across Konoha's clear blue sky. One was shaped sort of like a kunai. The others didn't have any intelligible shapes, so I kept watching the first as it was slowly blown south east, the wind affecting the shape ever so slightly.

Running footsteps disturbed my peaceful thoughts. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that it was Ino, her short hair pushed behind her by the wind. She made a shooing gesture and then pointed over her shoulder. I frowned, but guessed that Shikamaru and Choji were waking up, and they probably weren't going to be happy.

I hauled myself to my feet, pushing off of the ground with my hands and knees. Ino quickly passed me as she sprinted toward the road. I glanced back the way she'd come and saw that Choji and Shikamaru were yawning and rubbing their eyes. Hopefully they wouldn't look at each other too soon. I slowly jogged after Ino, who was rapidly disappearing down the street.

* * *

"Work on it before you go to bed," Father said to us, yawning. It was quite rich of someone already in their pajamas to say that we couldn't go to bed yet. I scowled darkly as Shikamaru and I headed outside to work on feeling something completely unsolid again.

I might as well try though, I'd have to learn it eventually. Feeling a bit like an idiot I closed my eyes and tried to feel the shadow created from the setting sun. Try as I might, all I could feel was the sun on one side of me and a coldness to the other, which I assumed was just the lack of the sun.

I opened my eyes and saw Shikamaru had his eyes closed as he leaned against a tree. I sighed. This wasn't even logical. I kicked a rock, trying to take my anger out on it. All that I accomplished was hurting my toes.

Cursing the rock I tried to concentrate again. But it escaped me. I glared at Shikamaru who was definitely ignoring that we were outside and was going to fall asleep anyway.

I kicked some dirt around with my good foot, and slowed down my breathing. There, now I was calm again. Closing my eyes I decided to give it another five minutes before I gave up and went back inside.

Again, all I could feel was the sun and the coldness. Maybe the coldness was what Father was referring to? If it wasn't then oh, well.

I tried to feel out the coldness with my mind, adding and withdrawing from it using nothing but thought. It was probably just my mind messing with me, but I thought it had gotten colder all of a sudden. I opened my eyes to see what had happened, but the feeling left, and I saw that my shadow was the same as usual.

"What was that?" I called over to Shikamaru. He cracked open an eye before shrugging his shoulders. It must have been just me then.

"Are you going to do it too?" I asked him. Again he shrugged. That would a no. I shook my head and closed my eyes a third time, trying to do the same thing. I expanded and contracted my shadow just like the time before, however this time I couldn't feel anything.

I opened my eyes and looked at where Shikamaru was still standing, back against the tree. "Did Father tell you anything else about this that I didn't hear?" I questioned slowly.

"Nope," he drawled uncaringly, his eyes remaining closed.

"I'm going back inside," I said stiffly, already turning to do just that. Feeling disgruntled about the lack of information we had been given, I marched through the door and up to our room.

Shikamaru plodded up the stairs after me and dropped like a rock onto his own bed. I stared up at ceiling in the darkness. What had that feeling been? Had I done it? Maybe it was just the wind, that seemed much more likely, but I hadn't felt my clothes stir at all.

If I had done it correctly, then I should be able to repeat it the next time I tried. With that resolved I curled up into a ball and faced the window, now with the curtains closed. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long, school started up again for me. I would like to give a shoutout to my little brother, who reads my stories and listens to all my crazy ideas for this fic. Without him I probably would have ended up with both a worse plot and worse grammar.**

 **Since I'm back in school, I don't know how much writing I'm going to be able to do. I'll probably end up using this fic as another excuse to procrastinate anyways, so it might still get done. I'm going to try to stick with bi-weekly updates, but I don't know how well I'll be able to hold to that, we'll see soon enough I suppose. Thanks for all the support.**

 **Answer:** _Definitely Kakashi, I love all of his excuses and how mad it makes everyone! Outside of the main characters? Ino. I always felt like she could have been a really cool character, and then just got abandoned. Especially with her mind jutsu, it has the potential to be sooo good and then, nothing. Sorry for ranting there, just, disappointed in Kishimoto for that one. Don't tell him though, Naruto is still awesome!_

 **Question:** _Favorite anime/manga of all time?_

* * *

TBC


	4. Chapter 3: Taijutsu

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I probably never will. *insert crying emoji here*

 **Chapter 3: Taijutsu**

* * *

"Wake up sleepyhead," I heard Shikamaru's voice say as if through water. Part of my brain tried to comprehend what he was trying to tell me while the other half continued to stay inactive.

"Mother said she was gonna get the bucket if you don't come down to breakfast in five."

I heard the door close, and everything was quiet again. I wasn't quite awake yet so it was still possible to go back to sleep. After several moments I finally registered what was said to me, and I was instantly awake. In the last year Mother had taken to filling a bucket of water and pouring it on us as we slept if we didn't wake up at what she thought was an adequate time.

In other words, once someone said bucket in our household all traces of sleepiness vanished. A lot had changed in the two years since Shikamaru started the academy. And now it was my turn. After the first few months I began to see Ino and Choji less and less. I researched a lot, and Shikamaru often let me take a look at his homework so that I could learn whatever was being taught in the academy at that time. Most of it was still basic concepts, but at the end of his second year they had delved into chakra and how the body used it, which wasn't something I already had a firm grasp of. Over the short summer break I was able to find several books on it in the library, and by asking Father about anything that I didn't understand I felt as though I could answer any question someone asked me, provided it was a question a graduating academy student could answer.

Shikamaru and I had also made a great amount of progress in our shadow jutsu. I was surprised to learn that what we were doing was manipulating the chakra in our bodies to form the shadow, but it made a lot of sense once I thought about it. We could both form a complete shadow possession jutsu, but Shikamaru could hold it for much longer than I could, and was already making strides towards completing the shadow neckbind, which Father wouldn't let me start until I could hold the shadow possession for five whole minutes.

Because Shikamaru had finally delved into chakra in the academy, Father told us about hand signs, how to channel and shape chakra with them, how to enhance our physical abilities with them, and most importantly, the necessity of precise chakra control. He showed us tree climbing and said that after we had mastered that we could try water walking.

All in all a lot had gone on, but everything that had happened was something to do with school and learning, and I was tired of it. I wanted to actually do something that mattered, and not go through more theories, especially when I had already learned it.

Shaking my head, resigned to the boredom of four years at the academy going over things I already knew, I slowly trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen, plopping down and grabbing the orange juice container to fill up my cup. I had a thing for orange juice, I couldn't really explain it, I didn't even think it tasted that good. Shikamaru liked to joke that I had an addiction to it, which was probably true considering the evidence, but as far as I knew from what I'd read orange juice wasn't an addictive substance.

No one said anything as I sipped my orange juice and sloshed around my cereal. They were all very aware of my displeasure that I had to go to the academy from the beginning. Even if I hadn't said it, my subtle comments and my mood when it was brought up were enough to clue them in, even if two of them weren't the smartest people in all of the elemental nations, probably.

Shoveling my cereal into my mouth as fast as possible, I left the table and hurried back upstairs. I moved so fast I could feel the uneasy looks of my three family members bouncing off of my back. I jumped back into bed, pulling the covers up over me and closing my eyes in one motion, hoping that my bed was still warm and I hadn't been awake too long to go back to sleep.

"Are you okay?" I heard Shikamaru's voice ask uncertainly. It seemed as though something like that had just happened not long ago. Resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to fall asleep again, I sat up.

"I'm fine," I muttered darkly, glaring down at my bed.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a movement. Glancing up I saw that Shikamaru had reached out his hand.

"Come on Shikai, I had to do it, now it's your turn," my older brother said. I took his hand and he pulled me up. After that everything was a blur. I went through the motions of getting ready for school, something I had never done, but had seen Shikamaru do a thousand times.

Eventually we were ready, and Mother was yelling bye to us as tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. She seemed sad, even though her mouth was lifted in a smile. Father hadn't left for work yet, and came to stand beside her, hugging her close. I noticed that I was falling behind, and turned my head forwards again and quickened my pace until I caught back up.

The walk to the academy took almost half an hour, since we were on the opposite side of the town from it. Sometimes having the Nara compound so far away from everything was more of a pain than it was nice to have peace and quiet.

All too soon I had to leave Shikamaru's side and head to class all by myself. I had been told that there were usually five or six different classes, and that because father was the clan head, I would most likely be put in a class with many other clan children or kids who were thought to become great shinobi.

Most people would have felt stressed or nervous in my situation. I was going into a class full of people I had never met, and it was almost certainly the most advanced class of my year. However, unlike everyone else, I had Shikamaru as an older brother, so I was constantly doing his homework for him, and because of that I had already learned everything taught in the first two years of the academy, in addition to everything I had researched on my own time at the library.

When I walked through the door the only one already there was the instructor. She didn't look very impressive to me. Father had said that most academy instructors were older chunin who weren't going to advance any farther in the shinobi hierarchy.

"Hello, you must be Shikai Nara," the lady said, smiling brightly down at me. I got the feeling that she was a new instructor, because she still looked quite young, and she gave off a supercilious feeling when she addressed me.

I sighed. This was most definitely going to be a long four years if I was with her for all them. "Hey," I grunted uninterestedly, already walking towards the back of the room where I sat down in the corner and promptly laid my head down on my arms and closed my eyes.

As the minutes passed I heard other kids come in and greet the instructor. The room slowly began to fill with the chatter of excited children, and I dug my face further into my arms to try to block out the noise.

Forever and a day later everyone had arrived and it was time to start the lesson. I lifted my head to look over my new class. It seemed what I had heard was correct. Almost everyone in the room had clan markings or were clearly from a specific clan.

"Hello class, I'm glad everyone could make it!" the bubbly teacher said, "my name is Nari Tsuruya, but you can just call me Nari-sensei."

"Hello Nari-sensei," everyone besides me chanted back.

"Today we will begin by going over math, reading, and we might even get to geography," Nari-sensei said, still with her winning smile. As soon as she said that my head dropped back to my arms, and my eyes closed again. There wasn't anyone next to me who would try to start a conversation, so I was almost guaranteed to avoid having to say anything for at least this class.

It didn't take me long to doze off, but all too quickly I heard a sharp voice call, "Shikai! Wake up!"

I lifted my head up groggily. "Huh? What was the question?" I asked grumpily. Waking a Nara up was never a good idea.

Nari-sensei rapped her knuckles against the blackboard. "I asked what the next step in this problem is," she said patiently, seeming to think that I had been sleeping because I couldn't keep up. I looked at the board, it read 10 + 9 x 2 – 4 = _.

I sneered slightly; this was such a waste of time!

"Ok, since Shikai doesn't know, can anyone tell me what we do first?" the instructor asked the class.

"It's 24," I called out from the back corner seat. All eyes swung in my direction, and I shrunk away from their collective gaze.

"No it's not," clambered the bossy girl who had answered almost every question I heard before I fell asleep. "The answer is 34, how could you get that wrong?" she stated haughtily. I saw that Nari-sensei was nodding at that answer, and that fueled the contempt that had slowly been growing since I had first walked into the classroom. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to gather up my courage.

"You're wrong," I said clearly. Again all eyes found my corner, but I continued with what I had to say, "Due to the order of operations you have to multiply the 9 and the 2 first before you add or subtract, which gives you the answer of 24. If you ignore the order of operations and do the math from left to right as you would if reading you do get 34, but that answer is incorrect." As I finished my short speech I noticed that the instructor was frowning in my direction from the front of the room.

There was a silence in the classroom as no one knew what to say. Eyes swung back and forth between Nari-sensei with her thoughtful look and my own stubborn expression. The silence lengthened into the dreaded awkward silence, and I shifted in my seat uncomfortably, but still refused to drop my gaze.

The young instructor finally ended the word drought, "Right now we aren't working on order of operations, so you can assume that everything is done based on the order it is written. Therefore, right now 34 would be the correct answer. We will get to order of operations in about a month, depending on the speed of the class, so from now on do it as though you didn't know about the order of operations."

I nodded slowly, but in my head I was thinking 'so you want me to do it wrong on purpose?' I rested my head back on my arms and closed my eyes. Hopefully we would have a different teacher for our next class.

That was my last thought before the bell woke me from my short nap. I glanced at the board on my way out of the classroom. Nothing new had been covered so far. I followed the herd of students through side doors of the building leading to the playground. It was surprisingly big, but there wasn't anything that particularly interested me.

I slunk around the edges of the playground for the 15 minutes we had before our break was over. Just before the bell rung I began making my way back through the hallways of the academy so that I wouldn't be caught in the group of my classmates again.

Before I could make my way to the back corner seat I had been at last time, I heard my name called out. I turned around to face my instructor, my face a mask.

"How did you know about the order of operations?" Nari-sensei asked, "There's nothing in your file that would make me think that you would have already learned things taught here."

I subdued the impulse to snort at that. Of course nothing would be in my file, I wasn't supposed to know anything of what I knew, I just decided to teach it to myself, or ask Shikamaru if I couldn't figure it out.

"I have an older brother," I said, keeping it simple. "His name is Shikamaru," and with that I turned and deliberately strolled over to my seat.

* * *

"Remember when I used to be excited about going to the academy?" I asked Shikamaru. One week had passed, and it was the last day of the weekend before I would have to return to the academy.

"Yeah," Shikamaru grunted uncaringly.

"Did you think I was really stupid for wishing that I could go?" I wondered.

"Yeah."

"Thanks for holding up your end of the conversation, it means a lot to me," I said sarcastically. I wasn't much of a social person, but Shikamaru didn't even try.

"S'no prob," my older brother muttered.

"So we 100% start taijutsu tomorrow?" I questioned him for what must have been the hundredth time.

"I've already said yes, why do you keep asking?" Shikamaru said, finally annoyed into a real response.

"Because I couldn't tell if you were just saying 'yeah' or if you were actually paying attention," I countered.

After that Shikamaru rolled over in his bed and just ignored me. It was late after all. But I would be getting plenty of sleep tomorrow during school so it hadn't bothered me that I would be getting less sleep than usual, which was still a considerable amount. But since it was late, I followed suit and closed my eyes. I steadied my breathing, allowing it to fall into a slow, easy pattern, which sleep soon followed.

The next thing I knew my eyes were opening. The first thing I noticed was that the lights were still off, so Shikamaru must not have gotten up yet. I rolled out of bed and put on fresh clothes. I then walked out of the room, throwing on the light as I did so in order to wake my lazy brother.

I was already done with breakfast and out the door before I heard the sounds of the rest of my family getting up. I decided to go the scenic route to the academy today, since I had plenty of time. Today I would have to actively engage in a class, because we were starting taijutsu. This wouldn't be a problem, as I practiced with Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji whenever they had time. But it had been a while, so I felt a little rusty. Hopefully it would wear off before I had to fight later today.

All too soon I arrived at the academy entrance, and I reluctantly headed to my classroom, resigned to another day of boredom.

My classes began slow, and proceeded to get slower. It started with basic arithmetic, before switching to geography and history. Then we had a short independent work time followed by lunch, and after lunch we had reading/writing.

Only one thing of interest occurred before taijutsu. It happened during our 10 minute break while the teachers finished organizing everything for the new class.

I was standing on the outskirts, leaning back against a tree, trying to stay in the shade, when I started hearing screaming come from the doors from which the upperclassmen came onto the playground. The first person out was a taller, dark haired boy who was full on sprinting away with a fearful look in his eyes as he repeatedly looked back over his shoulder.

Then the reason for his fear showed itself, as a huge group of girls, almost the size of my whole class, chased after him excitedly. I didn't think much of it, because I'd heard before from Shikamaru about how a certain boy in his class was constantly being chased by girls, so I just watched, wondering how long this would go on for. It hadn't happened before while I'd been present, because usually each year in the academy you had a different lunch time so it didn't get too crowded. It must be that their teacher was sick, or they were given a free period or something like that since we didn't have our in between class break at the same time either. Not that it really made a difference.

I almost turned away after several minutes of a bored fascination with the odd spectacle, until I realized that I knew one of the girls in the pack. I stood up straight, and casually started walking so that I would be right beside the path that the poor boy was currently taking. It was kind of impressive that he hadn't managed to hide or get away yet, it said something about the girls' dedication.

As the group stampeded past I reached out my hand and pulled Ino away from it. She was going so fast that her momentum made me stagger, but I regained my balance once she stopped running.

"Oh, hey Shikai!" she grinned widely. She didn't seem disappointed at all to be dragged away from her fangirling.

"What are you doing?" I asked, even though I already had a pretty good idea.

"Why, I'm chasing after true love of course," she replied, as though it was perfectly obvious.

I face palmed, "And how well is that working for you?"

"He'll fall for me eventually. If I keep showing him how much I love him how could he not?"

I just stared at her. Ino kept on smiling, oblivious to how ridiculous that sounded.

"Let me get this right, because you keep chasing after him and whatever else you do he's gonna fall for you?" I asked to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding.

"Yup," she confirmed, violently bobbing her head up and down, still with that crazy smile on her face.

"So then he's going to fall for everyone else too, right? Because they are all doing the same things," I concluded reasonably. Apparently my logic was a bit off, because Ino frowned and thought about that.

"Oh my god you're right!" she breathed with sudden realization. "What do I do Shikai? I have to do something that'll make me stand out! I know. I'll make him food! Everyone loves food, Daddy always says Mommy's cooking is half the reason he married her," she babbled in alarm.

"Whoa calm down," I said, nervously glancing around to see if we were getting odd looks. We weren't, but it still felt a little awkward. I took a breath, but I couldn't think of anything to say. Ino looked at me expectantly, her smile gone, now replaced with sad puppy dog eyes. Luckily I was saved by the bell announcing that we had to return to class.

"I'll help you after we get out of school," I decided, relieved to be able to put it off until I had had time to think. She nodded, and I headed toward the group of students cramming through the door my class used.

The last class we had, which was added onto the end of the day of last week's schedule, was taijutsu practice. I was actually sort of interested in how this would work. I was relatively sure that I would wipe the floor with everyone, but here I would be able to see if anyone had any talents or promise as far as speed, strength, and technique were concerned.

This was also the only class we would have a different teacher in. Well, it was the only class we currently had with a different teacher.

"So now I would like you all to circle the number on your paper that you feel most accurately shows your skill level in each category. Be honest, or else the partner we pair you with won't be a proper match," our instructor said. I quickly jerked out of my thoughts and looked down at the piece of paper that had been placed in front of me.

It read: speed – 5, strength – 5, stamina – 5, taijutsu technique – 5.

Seeing exactly what this was based on, I raised my hand to check what scale we were using. "Are we basing this on the actual shinobi scale, or by comparison to the rest of the class?" I asked seriously.

"Definitely the rest of the class, I wouldn't expect you to be able to take on a full-fledged shinobi already, I haven't even taught you yet," the instructor replied.

Nodding, I grabbed my pencil and wrote my name, and then circled all of the 5's. I handed in my paper and returned to my seat, waiting for my partner to be decided.

It took a while, but after a quarter of an hour, and with the input of Nari-sensei, the pairs were finalized.

"Ok, everyone listen up," our instructor said, "today we will just be doing some basic moves and positioning, and then I'll let you spar to test it out. But no brawling, understood? We will be doing taijutsu only." He stopped to make sure we were all paying attention. Seeing that we were, he proceeded to call out each pair, until finally, "Shikai Nara and Namika Hyuuga."

I looked over at the female Hyuuga on the other side of the room. She stared back, before slowly nodding, and turning her attention back to the front. I must have passed whatever visual test she had, based on her nod. From the times I had actually been paying attention during the lessons, she had seemed rather quiet, so there was a good chance that we might get along.

After the last names were listed, we lined up next to the door as directed, and followed our instructor out of the classroom to the room where we would be having our taijutsu lessons. I gradually started falling behind, as my pitiful pace frustrated the people behind me into passing me up.

I continued following with my gaze at my feet. I could follow the sounds of feet well enough, and if I lost them, the instructor gave off enough of a chakra signal that I'd be able to find them that way. I wasn't really a sensor, but because of clan training I was probably the best one in the class outside of any Hyuuga or Inuzuka we had. Also they weren't going to be that far away, 50 feet at the absolute most, which might be enough to make me lose them depending on the thickness of the walls.

As I followed behind, I noticed someone fall into step with my lazy, plodding pace. I looked up and saw that it was my sparring partner, Namika.

"Hey," I grunted, using Shikamaru's preferred form of communication.

"Hey," she greeted softly. She was slightly taller than me, which wasn't saying much considering our age. She had the long black hair common in the Hyuuga clan, held together at the nape of her neck by a loose braid trailing down her back. She wore a loose, violet sleeveless shirt and tight black pants.

I didn't say anything, just kept on walking. It was a little weird having someone besides Shikamaru, Ino, or Choji walking beside me, or even greeting me. So I stayed silent, not sure what I should do or what I was expected to do.

We walked past several rooms before either of us spoke. "Where did you learn about the order of operations?" Namika asked curiously.

I glanced at her surprised. "Well," I started slowly, "my brother is two years older than me, so I've learned whatever he's been taught here."

Now she was the one who looked surprised. "Everything?" she wondered out loud.

"Yeah, everything. Some things were hard to learn without a teacher, mainly geography and history, so I went to the library a lot," I answered.

"Wow, that's a lot of work to do on your own," Namika replied, sounding impressed. "I know if it was me I would never be able to do it, I'd rather just hang around at home."

"Oh I did a lot of that too. It's just that it became rather boring being alone all day, so I figured I might as well keep up with my brother and my friends in his class,"

"You two back there, hurry up! We're all waiting on you!" came the instructors yell from the end of the hall.

Namika began jogging down towards our class, while I grudgingly broke into a reasonable walking pace. When she reached the rest of the group I wasn't even half way there, so I decided to pick it up to almost walking fast so that I wouldn't get yelled at.

"Now that we are all present," the instructor said, with a meaningful look at me and Namika, who I was standing next to, "we can go over the rules we will have. Rule 1: stop talking and listen when I give you a command or am addressing the class. Rule 2: stop sparring when I say stop. Rule 3: surrender when you are beaten, no one should be getting seriously hurt here. Likewise, if someone surrenders, stop attacking them. Rule 3a: you can't surrender right away to get out of sparring…."

"I bet that was made because of my brother," I whispered in Namika's ear. I didn't catch her reaction because the instructor's eyes swung right at me as he began the last rule.

"….Rule 4: be smart. Someone with no talent can beat someone with all the talent in the world if they out work and outsmart their opponent, especially if that opponent doesn't think they can lose. I guess that isn't really a rule, but I like to think of it as one. Now let's get going," the instructor finished, opening the door and leading the way inside.

My first impression was that it was very spacious, and the smooth wooden floors were a nice touch. It would be an ideal place to train, if it wasn't reserved exclusively for the academy. Namika followed me to a spot well away from the middle, and all the others.

Our instructor went up to a balcony that extended along one side of the large room. From his raised position he called for our attention. When he gained it, he demonstrated the proper stance for Konoha style taijutsu, and told us all to copy him.

I did so reluctantly, I'd done it a thousand times, but he'd only get mad if I didn't. I looked at my partner, who was in an entirely different stance that didn't look familiar to me. Then it dawned on me. She was a Hyuuga, therefore her taijutsu would be based around the Gentle Fist technique.

"How much taijutsu have you done?" I asked, trying to gauge how difficult this matchup might become.

"I bit," she replied, making a face. "I'm a branch family member, so I don't get a lot of time to practice. But I work on it whenever I can."

"A branch family member? What's that?"

Namika's expression shifted to something akin to closed or guarded. "It's everyone who isn't a part of the main family, which is the clan head and the next clan head, and so on."

After that there was no time to talk as we were being directed into doing several basic taijutsu punches, kicks, and blocks.

After several minutes of this I was entirely fed up. This was just a waste of time where you had to actively participate! It was even worse than our regular classes.

"Alright everyone," our instructor called from his perch on the balcony, "to end the day we are going to have a tournament so that we can see your physical abilities, and if you have been paying attention or not. Make sure you remember the rules. Each pair should divide up so that you aren't in the same bracket. The matchups will be decided at random. I'm assuming everyone knows how brackets work?" Everyone nodded without saying a word, so he went on, "Then let's get this rolling!"

I was at the end of the second bracket, so I decided to sit down far enough away from everyone else that it would be relatively quiet. I contemplated taking a nap to regain all the energy I'd lost in the last 15 minutes, but rejected the idea. It would be far more helpful to observe everyone's fight, that way I could come up with a strategy to win based on their strengths and weaknesses.

That way I could win with minimum effort. And I still had to help Ino after all of this was over. I groaned loudly. Why was my life so hard?

All too soon it was my turn. This would likely be one of my harder matchups, if only because I didn't know how this boy fought.

The whistle blew signally the start of the match, and the other boy dropped into the regular taijutsu stance. If he was good his stance would soon change some depending on his abilities, but for now it was the regular one, so it didn't give much away.

I just stood there, not even bending my knees. I felt confident enough that I could dodge whatever he came at me with initially, and I wasn't willing to attack until I at least saw how fast he was.

The buzzing of the crowd grew louder, egging us on. I closed them out; it would only be a distraction. Seeing that I wasn't going to attack, and likely perceiving that my lack of a stance was because of a lack of skill, my opponent came at me with a direct rush, lunging with a punch that I easily backed away from. He followed it up with another punch, which I again avoided.

He wasn't particularly fast, and it was apparent that he was either a civilian or hadn't done taijutsu training in his clan, for it was evident that he had only just learned it. I decided that I had gathered enough information on my opponent, and that it was time to end this.

"Surrender," I said simply. The other boy just stared at me like I was from another planet. "I guess that's a 'no'," I muttered to myself.

I came at him slowly, and feinted a punch at his face. When he brought his arms up to block it, I used his obscured vision to sweep his legs out from under him with a clean kick. When he fell I jumped on top of him, falling on his chest and pinning his arms and head so that he couldn't move. He tried to kick me, but because I was low enough on him he wasn't able to connect.

"Surrender," I hissed in his ear.

"I surrender," he whispered downcast. I released him, and we both climbed to our and got out of the way for the next pair. I was heading back to my spot so that I could watch this match as well, when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

"A pin technique? What kind of taijutsu is that?" Namika asked. It was a good question, it hadn't been taijutsu at all.

"I was tired of standing," I replied, only half-jokingly. She gave me a hard look, so I quickly elaborated, "I didn't want to hurt him, if I just sat on him it would end faster. Of course, now I won't be able to do it again because everyone's seen it, all he had to do was roll over before I landed on him and he could have finished me easily."

This answer seemed to satisfy her, because she smiled and nodded.

"You had better make it to the finals against me, no one else looks like they'd be a challenge to fight," Namika threw over her shoulder as she walked away. I nodded, even though she wasn't looking at me anymore. It was true, hardly anyone here seemed to know much about taijutsu outside of the basics explored in this lesson.

Luckily I would only have to face two more people to make it to the finals. My class didn't match perfectly with bracket numbers, so some people had drawn the unlucky straws of having a play-in match.

My second opponent wasn't particularly good at taijutsu like the first, so I was able to quickly dispatch him. My third was an Inuzuka clan member, and he seemed to have had a good amount of practice, which made sense because their clan jutsu was basically only taijutsu.

I had seen both of his previous matches, and he seemed to lean towards using speed and rushes to land his devastating hits. If I could keep making him have to change directions, I should be fine.

Our match began with one of those direct rushes, and he followed me as I backed away, angling myself so that he had to turn. When I felt he had gotten to close I changed speed and darted past him, throwing a kick that connected and caused him to crash over as I did so.

He bounced up quickly on the defensive so that I couldn't follow up my advantage, but I was long gone to the opposite side of the designated fighting area. We both came forward cautiously, he had now seen what would happen if he overcommitted, and I wasn't willing to put myself in a position where I couldn't easily defend.

This time I was the first to move, jumping to the right to create a better angle. He turned with me, keeping me in front of him, but I was already moving again. I moved back to the left, coming in close and throwing a punch that he blocked. He tried to kick me back, but I dodged and moved inside his guard. I elbowed him in the ribs to drive out the air, and when he doubled over I brought down my other elbow on the back of his exposed head, dropping him to the ground with the impact it created.

That bout was a lot tougher than the previous two, but it had likely not lasted more than two minutes. Hopefully I would get a short break before I had to face Namika, who had disabled her opponents almost as easily as I had.

After a five minute break, which went by way too fast for my taste, Namika and I were eyeing each other in the middle of the room.

"I'm sorry about this defeat you are about to have," I said with a straight face. I didn't know if she was susceptible to trash talk, but she was good enough that it wouldn't hurt to try. Sadly, she just gave me a small smile and dropped into her stance.

I did the same, and as soon as we were given the word to start, I took off, angling myself to her left. She ran to intercept me, and a step before we met I planted my foot and pirouetted back to the right, putting me behind her. She immediately tried to escape the bad position, but when I lashed out I still caught a piece of her.

I backed away as she came after me. This time it was me on the defensive as she let loose a kick that I dodged, and then followed it up with several punches that I had to block because I couldn't escape in time.

I could see that she was getting frustrated that nothing was breaking through my guard. I dodged one way as she kicked at me again, and quickly bounded away to give us each plenty of space.

She was good, so I'd have to think carefully about how I wanted to do this. The only weakness I had noticed so far was that she was having a hard time adjusting to not having the effects of Gentle Fist, and she was losing her discipline because of it. If I could exploit that, then I should be able to wrap this up.

I let her come to me, only this time after several blows, I let one get through to me, and when she eagerly followed it up after I dropped to my knees, I rolled to the side and came up on one knee, kicking out her legs so that she tumbled over. This time the advantage was real, and I followed it up without hesitation. When she tried to regain her feet I came up from behind her, attacking until she couldn't keep up her defense, and then it was over.

"And the winner of the tournament is Shikai Nara. Thank you all for participating, we were able to gauge everyone's abilities, and now we have a better idea of where everyone is as a class. Since we are out of time now, you can go, I'll see you tomorrow," announced our instructor.

I quickly headed out the door so I would get through before the wave of people enveloped me. Now I had to help an old friend.

I racked my brain as I headed to meet Ino. I had barely come up with anything when I saw her, but it should be enough, with how seriously she took every bit of advice I'd already given her.

"Hey Ino," I called out, causing her to look up from where she was sitting on a bench just outside the academy.

"So what should I do Shikai?" she asked despairingly, completely skipping a greeting.

"Well, you want him to like you, right? You were right when you said you had to stand out, but you should go about it differently." I could see that she was hanging on to my every word, making me wonder if I was leading her the wrong way.

I swallowed and began again, "I think you should stop fangirling, because that will most likely just drive him away. If you want him to notice you, then you should work hard, and be nice to everyone, not just him. If he thinks you are only a good person around him he definitely won't be interested, so make sure you show that you are caring, and funny, and helpful whenever you can." I scratched the back of my head self-consciously, I wasn't good with feeling talks. "Also, I wouldn't try to talk to him for a week or two so that he can notice that your done with fangirling, and then after that just be nice to him, become his friend first," I finished, feeling as though I had talked more to girls today than in the rest of my life combined.

"Does that make sense?" I asked, secretly hoping that it did and that I could go home and sleep. Ino's face was all screwed up in concentration. I watched it as it shifted from confusion and deep thought into understanding.

"Thanks Shikai! I knew you could help me," she giggled, already back to her happy self again.

I sighed as I watched her skip off towards her house, and slowly began making my way towards mine, where my bed awaited.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Not sure if y'all could tell, but I tried a slightly different style in this chapter, a lot more narrative without talking. I'm not sure if I like it yet, but it seems much better for universe building. Also it really gets the word count up, sooo :)**

 **In this chapter I showed another side to Shikai that has grown since the last chapter. Now he isn't just the innocent kid he used to be, he has a bit of a dark side. I added that because I felt that surrounded by geniuses as he grew up would make him have little patience for those not as intelligent as him. He doesn't realize that even though compared to Shikaku and Shikamaru he isn't very smart, he would still be incredibly smart by any other standards, even if he isn't quite a genius. I also didn't want him to be perfect, everyone has to have at least one flaw, and this is where one of his was showed.**

 **I'm really sorry this didn't get posted last weekend, but my class took a field trip to participate in sandfest in Port Aransas on Saturday, and that was pretty much my whole weekend, lots of time in the car. The plan was to get another chapter up next weekend, making this one just delayed, but then my teacher was like 'here, have twice as much work in the span of two weeks as you usually have,' so that sadly won't be happening. But after this class ends I should have a super light schedule until summer, so maybe, no promises, but I might be able to update every week. If not the schedule will still continue like normal. (I say that like there's been regular postings. :/ )**

 **I actually planned to put a lot more in this chapter, then it ended up becoming way to long, so I didn't. Now I'm probably gonna have to add another chapter to his academy years, ughh, it's so hard to think of things to write for them, because I can't just make up missions. Oh well, I hope y'all found this chapter interesting, it was fun to write.**

 **Also I just noticed that I spend a lot of time on grammar in the actual story and then in my author's notes it's like blaaaaah. But I'm not gonna change it because it feels more natural. More natural? Idk. Y'all understand what I'm going for here.**

 **Answer:** _My favorite manga would have to be Bakumon, I really enjoy the lifestyle aspect and how it's completely realistic. The anime wasn't nearly as good though so I'll have to go with Kaichou wa Maid-sama, which was surprisingly really hilarious._

 **Question:** _If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?_

* * *

TBC


	5. Chapter 4: Shikamaru's Proposition

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did I wouldn't be getting ready to pay a ridiculous amount of money for college, I'd be sleeping and reading all day.

 **Shikamaru's Proposition**

* * *

The few days remaining of his academy life filled Shikamaru with both uneasiness and excitement. He was excited that he might never have to go back to the boring school where his naps were constantly disturbed. And yet he didn't want the added responsibility and work of being a full time shinobi. It was the precise definition of a lose-lose scenario.

Shikamaru couldn't decide whether it would be more troublesome to pass or fail on purpose. Actually, failing was looking like the better, option, because if he failed he would join his younger brother Shikai's class.

After the teachers had realized that Shikai already knew everything he was being taught, he was allowed to move up a class half way through his first year. He ended up having half of the first year and half of the second, and was about to complete a full year of what would normally be the third year of the curriculum.

As he muddled over this important decision, he heard loud laughter break out around him. He looked up to see that Naruto had once again done a terrible transformation jutsu. Shikamaru didn't really see that as funny. If Naruto didn't pick it up he would fail this same exam for the third time in three years.

"Shikamaru!" called out the voice of Iruka sensei. Ugh, that meant it was his turn. But he already knew he was going to fail, so it wasn't like there was pressure on him to perform or do his best.

He closed his eyes in front of the watching audience. Then it hit him. If he failed not only would he have to listen to Shikai laughing at him for an entire year, if not forever, but Mother would never let him hear the end of it. That was a deal breaker.

Before he could change his mind again, Shikamaru transformed into the Hokage perfectly. He then proceeded to do a clone jutsu and substitution in quick succession, so that he was already on his way out of the building before they could ask him to perform his second jutsu.

However as he was exiting the building he heard a cough from just behind him. With a sinking feeling Shikamaru turned around. The chunin instructor standing behind him hooked a thumb back from where Shikamaru had come from.

Frowning, Shikamaru slouched back towards the classroom. When he arrived he noticed that everyone was already done. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their performance from what he could tell. Everyone except for Naruto, who looked furious, but he was always messing up anyway so it was sort of expected, and Sakura who was silently crying in the corner. She had never really grasped the concept of chakra, and was constantly falling behind.

"Those of you who passed come get a headband before you leave, and meet back here tomorrow for your team assignments," Iruka-sensei was saying to the class. Shikamaru grabbed a headband from the stack by the door, and made his way back down the hall he had just traveled twice.

It wasn't until he had exited the building that an interesting idea occurred to him. It wouldn't hurt to try to find out what team he would be on tonight so that he could make plans for it. He was assuming he would be stuck with Choji and Ino, but they might decide to break up that tried and true genin cell.

Slinking around back, he headed inside again, on the lookout for the meeting room where they would finalize the teams. After wandering around casually for a quarter of an hour, he stumbled upon a room labeled meeting. Assuming that it wasn't mislabeled, Shikamaru was fairly confident that this was the room he was looking for.

Resisting the urge to glance around that would make him seem all the more suspicious, he carefully opened the door and slid inside. The room was currently empty, so he looked around for a place he could hide.

In a dark corner he saw the perfect hiding place. It was a broom closet that most people would overlook, because of how obvious it seemed. And because they were right above all of the academy classrooms, no one would think anything odd of an academy level chakra signature hanging around.

He settled back against the wall, it could be several hours before everyone was gathered and the meeting started for all he knew, he might as well sleep until then.

When Shikamaru awoke to the sound of voices filling the room, one in particular stood out, Father's. Hopefully he wouldn't bother to feel out any chakra signatures, for he would know at once that it was Shikamaru.

He peeked out of the doors, and saw that the Hokage was standing on a small raised platform not far from his corner.

"We are gathered here because of the new batch of academy students that have passed the exam today," began the Hokage seriously. "I have already spoken with most of the available jounin, and have decided on what the new genin teams will be, as long as there are no objections. I am as always open to input. However there is one thing that is different this year. We are one genin candidate short of full three man cells. I don't believe that any of the graduates this year are good enough where a one on one apprenticeship would be needed, so I've been contemplating either purposefully failing a team of two or advancing someone who didn't pass."

The Hokage paused, as if to give someone a chance to speak up. When no one did, he continued by listing the new teams and who their sensei would be. No one in his class was mentioned until, "Team 8 led by Kurenai Yuhi: Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka," and "Team 10 led by Asuma Sarutobi: Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara." After he had finished listing everyone, he again paused in case someone had something to say. When again no one did, he added the last team. "Team 7 led by Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and …."

So Naruto somehow did pass, Shikamaru wondered, mildly impressed.

"…. And our currently empty spot."

Two straight up attackers on one team, that had the potential for a lot of destruction, Shikamaru contemplated, somewhat intrigued by that decision. But they would need a good support backup, especially if Kakashi Hatake is their sensei. He has quite the reputation as a battler, and having someone to support and plan from the back would make that a deadly group, especially in ambushes and quick skirmishes, someone like me or Shikai would complement that group very well, he thought, a little disappointed that he wasn't in it.

But wait! Shikai was still a year behind, but he already knew everything taught in the last year, and would barely be behind in taijutsu. If he was allowed to skip a year and join the team then that would work great. He wouldn't have to re-learn anything, and they would have enough new graduates for full teams.

The only question was how could he propose his idea without drawing attention to the fact that he was spying on the meeting? Seeing his father close by, Shikamaru grinned, realizing exactly what he could do.

Shikamaru allowed his shadow to creep out of the broom closet, weaving towards his Father's body, standing less than ten feet away. Instead of going with a full on shadow neckbind, he made it slowly and gently wrap around his Father's ankle, alerting him to Shikamaru's presence without startling him.

He saw the eyes of the older Nara travel down to his ankle, and follow the shadow to the closet. Shikamaru retreated his shadow, and his father casually followed it, stretching his arms back behind him to make it seem as though he was merely stiff and needed to loosen up.

Shikaku leaned back against the wall right next to the broom closet, and purposefully kept his lips still as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru licked his lips nervously. Even though his father was usually pretty chill, he could still get in tons of trouble for this, even if it never got out that he had done it. "I know who could fill the last spot," he breathed out quietly.

His father looked somewhat intrigued. He bent his head lower, tuning out the voices from the rest of the room.

"I'm listening," he said, giving his oldest son permission to continue.

Shikamaru took a deep breath before putting forth his idea.

"If Sasuke and Naruto are put on a team lead by Kakashi Hatake, then that's three frontline attackers on one team. While Kakashi and Sasuke might have a little depth to their attacks, Naruto is completely straightforward, making them a very heavy hitting team. But they don't have anyone who is good at support, they would benefit greatly from someone who could sit back and support them while seeing the entire battle and how they can win it," Shikamaru paused to make sure his father was still interested. He was, so Shikamaru continued in a whisper, "I think Shikai should be put on that team. He already knows everything taught in the final year, he would ace the graduation test, and his younger age and the extra time he would need to develop would make up for the lack of balance of not having a kunoichi on the team. Also, even though he's younger, I think he can handle it. He's mature for his age, and he hangs out with Choji, Ino, and me more than he does kids his own age."

Shikaku straightened up and made his way back to where he was standing before. From his face one wouldn't be able to notice at all that he had just had a conversation, and was carefully contemplating how it might turn out. After working it out in his own head he realized that Shikamaru had a good point, and he was confident that his younger son could handle it. He'd already shown that he was capable enough to skip ahead a year, so why not another if he already knew the material?

It was several minutes before the topic shifted to what would happen with the remaining spot, and by that time Shikaku was thoroughly convinced that Shikamaru had the right idea.

"Hokage, sir, I believe I have an answer to the problem of being short one graduate. My youngest son, Shikai, is two years younger, but only one class behind, but I've been told that he already knows the material from all the years, even the last one, and my other son is confident that he would ace the final exam. Also he would be a great support option for a team of frontline attackers. I propose that if he can get a perfect score on the final exam then you allow him to graduate and join team 7 along with Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki," Shikaku's voice rang out clearly across the room.

No one said anything as each one pondered the ridiculousness that this proposition was. But as crazy as it sounded, no one was able to poke a hole in the flawless logic of the deductions made by the combination of the two Naras.

Even the Hokage was nodding slightly as he contemplated it. Finally he spoke up announcing his decision, "I trust you Shikaku, and I can't see anything wrong with it, so let's give it a try, when can he take the test?"

"I can bring him here now if you want, we can take a short break to stretch and decide who will be the judge of his examination."

"Iruka you be one of the judges, since it was your class and we want to have consistent judging, the other two will be Izumo and Kotetsu, I believe they will appreciate having a break from gate duty," the Hokage said smiling blandly.

After everything had left the room Shikamaru slipped out of his hiding place and quickly ghosted down the hall. They would all be back soon, and he really didn't want to get caught.

* * *

I looked out the window into the growing darkness. It had been hours and Shikamaru still hadn't come home from the academy. I was growing more and more worried. So far I had been able to cover for him with Mother, but she was growing suspicious.

Finally I saw him emerge from the shadows of the houses lining the wooded area that was the Nara clan compound. I backed away from the window and moved downstairs to meet him at the door. I opened it wide as he reached the front porch.

I planned to ask what had kept him, but he immediately grabbed me and pulled me out the door. He slammed the door shut behind me without a word, and started off back the way he had come.

"We have to go back to the academy, they want you for something," was all Shikamaru said as we left.

"Is that where you've been all this time?" I asked incredulously. Today was supposed to be his last day there and he decided to stay late.

"Yeah, I wanted to find out what team I was put on," he replied.

"And who are you with? Ino and Choji would be my guess." We both had heard many stories about the Ino-Shika-Cho teams, and how well they worked together, so it only made sense that this group would continue the tradition.

"Yeah, our jounin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi."

"Nice," I commented. I didn't know much about Asuma, except that he was the son of the Hokage, so there wasn't much I could say about it. "So why are we going back to the academy?" I asked.

"You'll see," he replied, and wouldn't say another word the rest of the way there.

When we arrived he lead my upstairs, where I had never been before, and to the doors of a room labeled 'meeting'. He knocked and waited until the doors where opened from within, allowing us to enter.

We stepped inside, and the first thing I noticed was that the room was large, about the size of three classrooms combined. There were four people inside, Father, and three chunin, one whom I recognized as Shikamaru's instructor.

Father grinned over at us, "You guys sure took your time showing up here."

"What's going on? Why did we have to come? Shika didn't tell me anything," I questioned him.

"We wanted to give you a test. It came up that you have been learning from Shikamaru, so we wanted to test how much you know," he answered. "Shikamaru and I will wait outside until it's over."

After my two family members had left, I looked nervously at the three chunin. The one I knew as Shikamaru's instructor coughed, before saying, "We have a written test for you to see what all you can do, after that we would like you to perform the transformation jutsu, the replacement jutsu, and the clone jutsu which are taught here at the academy."

He came around and handed me a written test and a pencil. I sat down on the floor where I stood as he returned to his companions. Looking down at the paper, I noticed that it had things from all four years at the academy, from algebra, history, and geography, to chakra uses and the three different types of jutsu.

I smiled at the paper. This would be simple, merely repeating things I had learned from Shikamaru or the library. When I was finished I handed it in.

"Now the three jutsu?" I asked to make sure of what they wanted. When they nodded I pulled upon my chakra to transform, make a clone, and replace myself with it all in quick succession. I dispelled the clone and glanced up at my judges.

"So do I pass?" I wondered drily.

Shikamaru's sensei looked down and flipped through my written test. After reviewing it entirely he turned to his two companions who both nodded.

"Yes, I'd have to say you do. I'll inform the Hokage of this, could you come back here with Shikamaru tomorrow? They'll need you in his classroom," the lead proctor replied. "You are free to go now if you wish to."

I turned back and headed for the doors to meet up with Father and Shikamaru. That had been rather odd, I had never heard about them having extra tests for third year students, and Shikamaru certainly hadn't mentioned it if he had to take it as well.

I was lost in thought as I went through the doorway. I joined my two family members and we silently made our way back home.

"What was that all about?" I asked no one in particular. I didn't look at either one of them, instead opting to examine the buildings surrounding the route home from the academy.

It was Father who finally answered. "This year they are short one graduate for even, three man cells, and the Hokage didn't feel comfortable advancing anyone who had failed. In order to rectify the situation, someone who could fill that spot was needed," he said airily, as though there was no correlation whatsoever.

I thought about that. "So I'm filling in the open position?"

"It was suggested, that's why you were tested, to see if you had the skills and knowledge necessary. Of course, the Hokage still might not put you on a team, but most likely you too will become a genin tomorrow," Father said.

"And who will be on my team? Shikamaru already knows his so it's only fair that I do too," I wheedled.

"Actually, I'm not sure, I only know what they Hokage came up with before you were tested, but based on the results he might change his mind."

"I see."

I had to be content with that, because I could tell Father wouldn't divulge any information, and Shikamaru wouldn't tell me if he knew for Father seemed to think I didn't need to know.

It was a restless night for me. I didn't know anyone in Shikamaru's class besides him, Ino, and Choji, and since they would all be on a team together I wouldn't be with any of them. Eventually I was able to slip into an uneasy sleep, but my dreams were plagued with worries about my new team.

* * *

"This is it?" I asked my older brother nervously. We were outside the door to his classroom, where our futures were to be decided. Well, my future, Shikamaru already knew his.

Shikamaru pushed through the door, ignoring my uneasiness. I followed slowly, glancing around to take in the scene as I entered the room. There were seven other kids already there, so I assumed we were the last to arrive.

Ino and Choji were sitting in the back row next to an empty seat that I assumed was for Shikamaru. Spread out around the rest of the classroom was an Inuzuka, a Hyuuga, an Uchiha, an Aburame, and a blonde boy who was likely a civilian, as he didn't have any clan features.

I followed Shikamaru to the back row and sat down next to Choji, while he chose the chair beside Ino. I could feel everyone's eyes follow me as soon as I stepped foot in the room, and their curiosity only seemed to increase after it was apparent that I wasn't just seeing Shikamaru off.

I exchanged greetings with Choji and sunk down in my chair, trying to disappear. It was a relief when Shikamaru's instructor entered the room, followed by two jounin who I assumed would lead the squads. The only question was who was leading the third?

"Everyone listen up," called out Iruka-sensei. I had learned the instructor's name from Shikamaru after my examination the day before. "All of you have passed, so I will now list the teams from this class. Team 8 consists of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame, and your jounin sensei is Kurenai Yuhi. Team 10 is Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara, and you are led by Asuma Sarutobi. Team 7 is made up of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Shikai Nara…."

All eyes swung back to me and I sunk even further down in my chair, so that only my fore head was visible.

"…. And your sensei is Kakashi Hatake, who is not quite here yet." Asuma and Kurenai both sniggered at that, but Iruka-sensei continued as though he hadn't heard, "Team 8 and team 10 can leave now, but team 7 please remain here until your sensei arrives."

"Bye Shikai," Ino said, patting my head as she walked by, "Good luck!"

"Yeah, same," I murmured quietly.

Now only three of us were left, me, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. The new team 7.

I watched as Naruto grabbed an eraser and stuck it in between the top of the door and the doorframe.

"This is for being late," he said, as if that was reason enough.

"There's no way a jounin would fall for a lame prank like that," said Sasuke reproachfully. I didn't say anything. I didn't know much about these two who were now my teammates, so I wanted to learn as much about them as I could.

As Naruto backed away from placing the eraser, the door opened, and the eraser fell on the head of a masked shinobi. Naruto broke out in loud guffaws.

"Well, from first impression my new squad looks absolutely useless. Meet me up on the roof," said the ninja, and with that he disappeared in smoke.

Without a word I stood up. Naruto was just standing there. I could easily observe the conflicting emotions on his face, the triumph of besting a jounin along with the rage of being insulted.

I made my way through the door, slouching down the passage way. I heard Sasuke and Naruto following me, so I proceeded on towards the stairs.

As we ascended up to the roof, I went over all the jutsu I knew. It wasn't an impressive amount. I knew graduate level taijutsu, but I wasn't very strong, I only had good technique. I already knew the shadow possession jutsu, and three academy jutsu, and a few basic genjutsu. While it wasn't much, Father had always told me and Shikamaru about how the most important thing was knowing when to use your techniques, and mastering what you knew, not just knowing a bunch of different jutsu.

We walked onto the roof and found our new sensei reading a book. As we approached he closed it and put it in a pocket on his jacket.

"So, this is my new team. Since I've never met any of you, how about you introduce yourselves to me. Tell me your name, things you like, dislike, and your goals for the future," started the unknown shinobi.

"How about you go first to show us how it's done?" Naruto suggested. He was still a little put out after what happened downstairs.

"Fair enough," the jounin replied, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, but you can just call me Kakashi-sensei. I like several things, and my dislikes are none of your concern. And as for my goals for the future…."

Well that explained absolutely nothing I thought sullenly. It must have shown on my face, for Kakashi-sensei passed right over me and pointed to Naruto.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, and I dislike the time it takes to heat up instant ramen in the microwave, also my goal is to one day be Hokage!" Naruto declared triumphantly. I saw Sasuke smirk at that out of the corner of my eye. I had to somewhat agree with him. From what I'd gathered, Naruto wasn't very bright, or particularly good at anything besides getting in trouble.

"I see, and you with the smirk, who are you?" our sensei said pointedly.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I don't like much, but I dislike a lot of things, and my goals are to rebuild my clan and kill a certain someone," Sasuke said darkly. This time it was my turn to smirk. To hear a 12 year old say he was going to kill someone was priceless. If there was someone who had hurt him badly enough that he wanted to kill them for it, even long after the fact, then that person would be extremely strong. The only one who seemed to take him seriously was Naruto, who quickly took a step away from him with a startled look on his face.

Finally it was my turn. "My name is Shikai Nara, I enjoy reading and sleeping, I dislike moving too quickly, and my goal I haven't found yet," I said briskly.

"Alright, well now that we all know each other, let's meet at the bridge at 6 am tomorrow. I have to give you a test before I take you on as my team," he said, already turning to leave. Then he turned back as if remembering something important, "Oh yeah, and don't eat breakfast tomorrow, it'll be painful if you do."

And then there were three. Naruto looked around in order to find where Kakashi-sensei had gone, while Sasuke started heading for the exit.

"Wait," I said before he could leave. The two both stopped what they were doing and looked at me. "Let's go to a training field, if we are going to be a team we should know each other's abilities, especially if we have to have a test tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded, picking up on what I had implied. "You think it's going to be a team test," he stated curiously.

"If it wasn't why introduce us to our teams and team leader before the test, it would be better to have us take the test beforehand and make teams from those who passed," I added.

"I see," he replied, "so we pass or fail as a group."

I nodded. I looked at Naruto to make sure he understood too, but he just looked confused. I raised an eyebrow questioningly, and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I sighed. "What," I asked impatiently.

"How do you know it's a team test?" Naruto inquired.

I looked incredulously at Sasuke, and he just rolled his eyes. Looking back at Naruto, all I could say was, "Just trust me on this."

It seemed to satisfy him, for he nodded and gestured for me to go ahead. I lead them all the way to the other side of Konoha, to the training ground where Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and I had always met up.

I walked right up to the lone tree sitting just inside the boundary of the training ground and sat down in the shade. It was almost noon, so the sun was beating down upon the city with vicious heat, and any protection from it was gladly welcomed.

We all gathered around the base of tree, where the other two looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath and then said, "I think we should tell each other are skills, and anything we struggle with." I paused to make sure they were in agreement. Since there were no complaints, I continued, "I'll start. I know academy level taijutsu, but I'm not particularly strong, I just have the technique down well and I'm fairly fast. My ninjutsu is the three academy jutsu, and my clan jutsu, which is shadow possession. In genjutsu I know a few techniques, camouflage and several vision-altering genjutsu, mostly just the basic and generic ones. I'm not very good as a front line fighter or by myself, I do a lot better with a team."

"Can you demonstrate the shadow possession?" Sasuke asked me. I nodded. I allowed my chakra to pool at my feet, and form into a shadow. Stretching it out it raced along the ground until it ran into Naruto's shadow. I slowly stood up, and he did too, in the exact mirror image of the way I did. I reached my arms up and so did he. Dropping my arms back to my sides, I released the jutsu and collapsed back onto the ground.

"So what about you two? Any super helpful talents?" I asked them. Naruto was still startled from being controlled so suddenly, so it was Sasuke who answered first.

"I'm rather good at taijutsu, and I have good speed. In addition to the academy jutsu I know the fireball jutsu, and I have a lot of practice with kunai. The only thing I'm can't do well is genjutsu," Sasuke stated comfortably. He certainly didn't have any issues talking about himself from what I had seen today.

"I can make 100 shadow clones!" Naruto yelled eagerly.

I sighed. This was never going to end, was it? "We are literally two feet away from you, and neither of us are deaf. You don't have to yell," I said tiredly.

Naruto's face grew pink and he muttered a quiet 'sorry' before continuing with his own list of skills.

"I'm a hand to hand fighter; I do mainly taijutsu combined with my clones. I don't know any jutsu outside of the academy jutsu, but I'll learn some new ones soon. So I don't really know much ninjutsu, and I don't know any genjutsu," said a much more downcast Naruto.

"Alright, so two front line fighters and a supporter. I forgot to mention that I'm pretty good with strategies. But since I'm the supporter I'll need you two to carry them out," I reasoned. "Well since we don't know what the test will be, there's not much more we can do, so I'll see you guys tomorrow at the bridge," and with that I stood up, dusted off the dirt and leaves stuck to my pants, and headed back home.

* * *

I felt for chakra presences on the bridge. There were none, but just to be sure, I made a clone and sent it to examine the bridge. I allowed my chakra to coat the air around me, not enough to notice, but enough that I would be able to employ a genjutsu on anyone who looked my way. That way no one would be able to see me.

My clone had found nothing, which was to be expected as I was an hour earlier than the pre-determined meeting time. But it could never hurt to be prepared. I dispelled it and settled in for a long wait.

It wasn't until ten minutes before the meeting time that I felt the first chakra signature appear. It was Sasuke, and while he was alone, I didn't jump out of my hiding place to greet him, instead opting to create another clone and send it in place of myself. If the test was a battle on the bridge I'd be safely out of range even though everyone assumed I was there too. It might not be a battle, but I couldn't think of anything else that would hurt if you ate before it. Of course, I had eaten breakfast, it was worse to not eat at all than to eat just beforehand, especially if it was going to take a while.

I wasn't able to hear anything that would be said, so I slowly moved a little closer to the bridge. It was during my transition from one hiding place to the next that Naruto arrived. He looked my way and I froze. It wouldn't due to mislead my teammates on our first test as a team, in particularly when I had preached about teamwork the day before.

Luckily the genjutsu must have worked, because he didn't call out or wave, and just turned back to looking forward as he made his way to greet Sasuke and my clone.

Once my new cover was secured, I listened in on the conversation. Naruto appeared to be complaining about Kakashi-sensei being late, but no one seemed to be listening. My clone was preparing to take a nap, and Sasuke was pointedly ignoring both of them.

Eventually all three of them fell into sleep, but I kept watch. It wasn't until four hours after he told us to meet him at the bridge that Kakashi-sensei arrived.

"Morning," he said brightly as if nothing was wrong. All three were now awake, and Naruto pointed accusingly at him.

"You're late!" screeched an angry Naruto.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way," Kakashi-sensei apologized sincerely.

This even got a rouse out of Sasuke, who glared at the jounin along with his teammate.

"So what are we doing for the test," the Uchiha asked impatiently.

"Follow me," was the only reply he got.

The three of them took off after Kakashi-sensei as he led them away from the bridge and towards the training fields. I followed farther behind. Because we had moved I no longer had a genjutsu to conceal myself, so I had to be careful not to look like I was double crossing them. Another reason to stay back was so that Kakashi-sensei couldn't sense my chakra.

They finally stopped in a training field by the river. An open field stood between the river and a wooded area that covered half of the training field. I moved closer to them, but stayed hidden in the shrubs and set up another concealment genjutsu.

"Your test is to take these two bells from me," Kakashi-sensei was saying. "If you can't do it before sunset then you will be sent back to the academy. Only two thirds of the graduates are allowed to become genin, and this test will determine if you have to go back or can proceed onward in your careers."

So that's the plan, I thought. If we think one of us will fail because there are only two bells then we won't cooperate. And by ourselves we wouldn't be able to get them from a jounin. This would be an interesting battle. It would take time and careful preparations. I'd heard many stories about Kakashi Hatake, and it was time to see how much water they held.

But for now getting the bells was the task. It would be tough, and with all three of us spread out without communication it would be even harder. To have any chance we would have to stick together. Use deception and speed, ambush Kakashi-sensei, surprising him in a scenario where he couldn't easily defend himself, and then use that chance to obtain the bells.

What had Sasuke and Naruto said that they were good at? Sasuke was good at taijutsu, he would have to be the one going for the bells. Naruto would be able to provide a competent distraction. If he used his shadow clone jutsu to make a clone for me and Sasuke then they could get Kakashi-sensei's attention while the real Sasuke went in for the bells and I provided support.

I smirked; this was bound to be a hard test, but easy if you figured out how to best it. Once you realized that it was all about working together and you took the time to come up with a plan then you would be able to win.

My thoughts were disturbed by the sound of Naruto yelling a challenge. I peeked out and saw that he had made his 100 shadow clones. Sasuke was retreating away from him as he launched an attack on Kakashi-sensei that was easily countered.

"Hold up!" our jounin instructor complained, "I haven't even said 'go' yet."

"Oh, right," mumbled Naruto turning red.

"So before we start," Kakashi-sensei said, giving a hard look at Naruto, "are there any questions? No? Okay, then GO."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I was a little worried that I wouldn't finish this in time. I'm not really that happy with this chapter, as it was basically just repeating episode one of Naruto, and I don't feel like I did a good job. Hopefully it was still a little interesting though.**

 **If it wasn't clear in the story, Sakura failed the exam because she never befriended Ino, therefore never gaining confidence or learning enough about chakra and all that. So because of that they needed someone to fill her place, and so Shikai was brought in.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has supported this so far, it really means a lot to me. It's one of the few reasons why I want to keep putting out chapters. Especially those of you who leave reviews, it always makes me happy to hear how y'all have enjoyed the chapter and appreciate my work. So thanks for that. :)**

 **Answer:** _Not sure, I'd honestly rather just stay in Texas. I guess Canada. All the people are nice and I have family up there, so it would be cool to see them and experience a temperature that doesn't make you sweat if you walk out the door._

 **Question:** _Favorite Naruto fanfiction on this site?_

* * *

TBC


	6. Chapter 5: Bell Test

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Just Shikai.

 **InfectedElite:** I'm glad it doesn't come off that way, one of the things I'm trying to do since this is my first story is keep everything believable. Well, as believable as Naruto ever is. And no, I have not yet thought about pairings at all, that won't come up until Shippuden if I make it that far.

 **Antex-The Legendary Zoroark:** I'm guessing you mean Legacy by cr4zypt? If so I started it right after you said that and I'm already to part two! It's kinda weird, I have a hard time with bad grammar in stories, and I don't really like the Naruto is god theme, but something about it just draws you in.

 **Bell Test**

* * *

I looked around from my perch up in the tree. I was well hidden by the leaves and branches below me, but I was able to see all around me from my vantage point.

"The coast is clear," I called down to Sasuke. I slid down the tree, carefully hopping from branch to branch until I could see my teammate below me. He was looking up at me as I descended into his view, and once he saw me looking he shook his head.

I pointed towards the north east and started bounding through the trees. Sasuke trailed me on the ground. We ran in silence, for even though I hadn't seen Kakashi-sensei, we didn't want him to be able to easily locate us.

I came to a halt as we reached an open patch. I hadn't planned for it, and it would mean we could be caught in the open. We'd have to go around it.

Sasuke jumped up to my branch and bent his head forward so his mouth was by my ear. "I'll take one side you take the other, we can't leave both sides uncovered," he breathed softly. I nodded, and without missing a beat we parted, Sasuke leaping off to the right while I took the left.

The clearing wasn't large, but going around it took much longer than it would to go straight through. We would be out of contact for several minutes, meaning we would need to stay sharp without the advantage of backup.

I reached the end of the clearing and saw Sasuke crouched down on a branch just ahead of me. I let out a pent up breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. I came up behind him quietly and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped slightly, his startled face swinging around. His eyes met mine, and it was like looking at a deer in headlights. I kept in a laugh and rolled my eyes.

Sasuke dropped back to the ground and trailed me as we continued on. We had covered almost half of the forest, the only place remaining was the grove of trees we had chosen for the ambush sight. I didn't even notice the distance we were covering as my mind flew through all the possible outcomes for this event, most not ending favorably.

We finally arrived at the location, and luckily no one was their yet. I closed my eyes to see if I could sense any chakra. There was none, so I jumped down to join Sasuke on the ground.

"I can't sense anyone, so let's get to work. Naruto probably won't be able to give us much more time," I muttered to him.

I watched as Sasuke disappeared into the forest again. It was his job to find the best place for us to wait, and to find from where Naruto should lead in Kakashi-sensei. He was also making sure that no one sneaked up on us while we were working.

After he was gone I looked around the grove. It was medium sized, and was easy to pinpoint because all of the trees in the area where considerably smaller than the others in the training ground.

I quickly got to work. There wasn't much I could do until Sasuke decided upon a setup, but I could still set up traps with basic genjutsu to cover them. There wouldn't be much of a point if Kakashi-sensei could spot them as soon as he entered the area.

I laid several trips wires and explosive tags I had brought with me, it probably wouldn't do much more than slow Kakashi-sensei down at best, but it couldn't hurt to try to do some damage.

I gathered up my chakra and carefully let it pour out into the grove so that I could obscure the traps. I focused my chakra on each location, letting it pool around them. After I was finished, I was pleased to note that even though I knew they were there, I wasn't able to see any of the traps. At the edge of my senses I felt Sasuke approaching. I turned in his direction as he stopped in front of me.

"Best place for us to hide is just over there," he said pointing to my left, "and that works well because then Naruto can lead him in directly since he's coming from the south west."

"We'd be on the opposite side then," I said nodding. "Alright so this is what we are going to have to do once Kakashi-sensei arrives," and I carefully explained everything I had planned on the way, and adjusted after walking around the location. "Since you are faster go alert Naruto to how this is going to play out, I'll stay here and make our cover more secure. Make sure he understands the plan," I added. It was critical that we were all on the same page.

As Sasuke again disappeared into the forest I jogged in the direction he had pointed. It didn't take me long to find it. There was a felled tree still full of leaves that would make great cover, and it still provided an excellent view of the ambush site. I placed my regular invisibility area of effect genjutsu over it so that Kakashi-sensei wouldn't see us even if he looked right at us. Of course, if he recognized that it was a genjutsu it was all over, but it was our best bet.

I settled in to wait; it would be around fifteen minutes before Sasuke returned. I sat down behind the fallen log and lowered my head and closed my eyes. Normally I would fall asleep, but now I was just taking the time to rest my body so that it was ready for the confrontation that was soon to happen.

"Incoming," I heard a quiet voice say, and something heavy landed beside me. I opened my eyes, and saw that Sasuke had arrived, and was all tensed up.

"You explained everything?" I asked and he nodded. There was just one more thing I needed to know, "How long?" I questioned him, my eyes boring holes through his skull.

Sasuke's black eyes met my piercing gaze, and all he did was hold up a single finger. I breathed out slowly. One minute wasn't much time. I pushed myself up so that I was crouched down next to him, and we both peered over the log anxiously.

I kept my eyes rolling over the clearing, searching for a flash of grey or blonde, or the startling colors of a jutsu. My chakra sense was the first thing that alerted me.

"Wow, they're coming in fast," was all I could say as I stared out. One second they were nowhere to be seen, and the next the sight and noise reached us. The yells of the clones Naruto had made as they tried to retreat from a deadly jounin.

I felt a presence slip up behind us and before I could think of what to do I had someone locked in my shadow possession with a kunai to his own throat. I let out a sigh and dropped the jutsu, it was only Naruto.

"Some welcome," the blonde grumbled, as he joined us behind the log. He had been observing the fight between Kakashi-sensei and the clones the entire time, as we needed someone to direct the fight away from this location until it was time.

The three of us watched the fight as it grew closer and closer to the traps I had set.

"Now guys!" I hissed, and the two of them split up, Sasuke going to the right and Naruto to the left while I slipped out from behind the log and crept forwards slowly, the whole time staying behind some sort of cover.

BOOM!

They had finally entered the grove, and all the explosive tags had erupted in a chain reaction, torching the whole area.

* * *

After Kakashi-sensei said go, I immediately dispelled my clone and looked to see who I should talk to first. I followed Sasuke as he dropped back into the cover of the forest. Naruto was challenging our sensei to a one-on-one battle. He wouldn't leave until Kakashi-sensei did, so I would have plenty of time to get him on board later.

I crept up behind Sasuke, whose eyes were on the fight, looking for any weakness he could exploit in Kakashi-sensei's technique. I tapped him on the shoulder and he spun around, opening his mouth to yell.

"Shhh," I hissed, covering his mouth with my hand. When I saw him calm down I removed it. I looked around, trying to gather the right words to convince him.

"None of us can get those bells, we aren't good enough," I said seriously.

Sasuke smirked back at me, "Speak for yourself, I think I have plenty of talent to get them."

I shook my head, "He's a jounin, we are genin, it's just not possible." Seeing his smirk waver I pressed my case, "The test is set up so that we can't pass, it's all a trick. In order to get them we have to work together, or we'll all fail. We are being tested on teamwork just as much as on our expertise as ninja."

I looked at Sasuke's face, searching for any signs that he might be considering my proposal, but his face remained as impassive as ever. I waited, but after no response I turned to leave, my plan in shambles. I was about to stand up and try to take advantage of the distraction caused by Naruto when Sasuke's hand reached out and grabbed my arm, preventing me from leaving.

"What do we do," I heard him say, and because I was facing away from him I allowed a triumphant grin to slide across my features. Composing myself, I turned back to him.

I took a deep breath and prepared to lay out my plan, it wasn't very complex, but everything had to be precise or it wouldn't work. "In order to get the bells, we'll have to overwhelm Kakashi-sensei with a group effort at a moment he's vulnerable. In short, we have to surprise him."

"He's a jounin, we can't surprise him," Sasuke interjected grumpily. I sighed, everyone always had to try to poke holes in what I'd say before I could even finish.

Trying to take the high ground and not snap back I said, "My plan is that Naruto will make clones of himself, you, and me, and have them fight Kakashi-sensei for us, while we set up an ambush. During the ambush we can use explosive tags and while Naruto and I distract him in the aftermath of the explosion, you can use the confusion to snag the two bells." I eyed him down, daring him to point out some other obvious issue with the plan. There was one that I was fully aware of, but there was no way around it, and if I was right it wouldn't even matter.

But Sasuke didn't say anything, he just grunted and turned back to watch the contest in the clearing that was proving to be very one sided. I had spent enough time with Shikamaru to know that that particular grunt was one of agreement, so I went on with what I had to say.

"I need you to distract Kakashi-sensei for a little while so that I can talk to Naruto about the plan, but don't get locked into combat, and don't waste too much chakra," I started to say, but I had barely finished when I was talking to only air. I peeked out of the bushes and saw that Sasuke had pulled Naruto away from Kakashi-sensei and pushed him towards me. Perfect. Sasuke was warily moving around Kakashi-sensei so that our teacher's back was now to me and Naruto.

I moved out of cover and grabbed Naruto, pulling him back into the woods with me before he could protest.

"Naruto, listen, you can't beat Kakashi-sensei, neither can Sasuke or I. The only chance we have is to team up," I paused and noticed that he was staring at me wide-eyed. "Are you okay?" I asked uncertainly. If he was hurt then there wasn't much I could do, and my plan went out the window without his shadow clones.

"He destroyed all of my clones!" Naruto said in shock. I sighed, shadow clones alone couldn't win battles, especially against a jounin.

"He is a jounin, you know. I'd be surprised if anyone besides a new genin would be beaten merely by a flood of shadow clones," I pointed out to him.

"But I beat Mizuki-sensei with them!" Naruto exclaimed sadly. Now I was the one in shock. But as I thought about it, it made sense. I'd heard my father saying that Mizuki was taken to prison after attempting to steal the scroll of sealing. It explained how Naruto had graduated, for Shikamaru had told me that Naruto failed the test.

"Then either Mizuki-sensei was really, really bad, or you just got lucky," I stated simply. I didn't want to hurt Naruto's ego, but I didn't want my teammate to just spam shadow clones like it would accomplish something. Naruto frowned at that, but I had to get on with my plan before Sasuke was overrun.

"We are going to trick Kakashi-sensei," I started slowly, trying to make sure I didn't mess up the wording. "Sasuke and I are going to set up an ambush, while you keep him occupied with shadow clones that look like the three of us, who fight him like we would so that he doesn't know the difference. When we are ready Sasuke will come get you and tell you to lead Kakashi-sensei to the ambush site. Got it?"

Naruto nodded, and then raised his hand as if he was still in the academy. "Where is the ambush site exactly?" he asked carefully. My eyes widened. I'd overlooked possibly the most crucial part. Thinking quickly, I came to a decision.

"Send five shadow clones out looking for good spots to do it, but only spots away from here so that we have plenty of time to set up," I told him. "They can meet me back here when they've found a good one."

Naruto nodded and quickly made the five requested clones. "You know what to do," he said, and all the clones saluted him before running off in different directions.

"Now you should go replace Sasuke with the clones, but do it naturally, and make the clones be self-preserving so that he doesn't assume that they are indeed clones," I told him, speaking briskly. There was only so much time Sasuke could buy us.

"Alright, I'm off then! Just tell me when its time and I'll do whatever you need," said Naruto grinning and giving me a thumbs up.

I rolled my eyes as I turned away, that kid had way too much energy. I'd love to borrow some, it would make everything less hectic.

I crept back towards the fight, keeping low the whole time so that I wouldn't be spotted, and waited for the moment when Sasuke would be replaced with a Naruto clone. Since we didn't have a spot for the ambush yet, we technically didn't need to replace Sasuke already, but it would be easier later if he still had his energy.

I watched closely as what appeared to be Naruto jumped back into the fray, pushing Sasuke away.

The timing had to be almost perfect, and it was close, the only question was would it be close enough to fool Kakashi. Luckily he still had his sharingan covered, but I wasn't sure if it could see through the eye patch, so it was better the closer we could get it.

Sasuke tumbled away from the fight as if he was pushed back hard, rolling all the way up to the edge of the tree-line where the Sasuke clone was waiting. They swapped places and the clone jumped back into the fight.

I noticed that my clone was hanging back, waiting for the optimal opportunity to join in. Because Naruto had made the clones based on our own strengths and weaknesses my clone would have the hardest time dodging and engaging in taijutsu, so it made sense that it would try to stick to long range attacks as much as possible.

The Naruto clone had taken to the front lines, and the Sasuke clone dropped back and began making hand signs.

"Great fireball jutsu," he yelled, blowing fire between his fingers at Kakashi-sensei and the Naruto clone. Kakashi-sensei saw it coming and his eyes widened. He quickly used a replacement jutsu, but the Naruto clone wasn't so lucky. The giant fireball crashed right into it, making it pop right away.

Both the Sasuke clone and I quickly looked around for Kakashi-sensei, it wouldn't be good if he found out that we weren't really fighting him before we revealed it, for with his intellect he would easily figure out the plan.

I felt a presence behind me and I nearly shot up into the air in alarm. I jumped to my feet, grabbing a kunai from my pouch and holding it out before me in a defensive gesture before I even saw who it was.

I let out a deep sigh and relaxed my stance. Sasuke stood before me, also in a defensive stance.

"Do you know where he went?" Sasuke asked me uncertainly. I shook my head.

"Let's just watch until Naruto's clones return," was all I said as I returned my attention to searching for Kakashi-sensei.

I couldn't see him anywhere, but I did see a shiny silver thing glinting on the ground by the tree, and the Naruto clone intently closing in on it. I peered at it, squinting to try to get a clearer picture, and I realized what it was.

"He's trying to trap Naruto," he breathed in surprise. Without a word to Sasuke I quickly started moving towards the trap, trying to reach it before the Naruto clone did and blew our cover.

Luckily I was much closer to the bell lying on the ground than the Naruto clone was, but because I had to stay hidden it would be a close race to see who would reach it first.

I still couldn't sense Kakashi-sensei, but I didn't mind that for all my attention was focused on springing the trap. I pulled up short of it, letting the cool air flood my lungs. I wasn't used to moving that fast, and my lack of stamina compared to the other three was starting to show. Even though I hadn't moved nearly as much as they had, I didn't have the energy to go through an all-out sprint, and it had already been hours since I had last slept.

After I'd replenished my oxygen supply, I bent down on one knee so that I had a clear view through the bushes. I started reaching out my shadow while using a visual genjutsu to disguise it.

" _C'mon_ ," I thought. The strain from using so much chakra at once was starting to show, and my genjutsu wavered. I pushed my chakra out as much as I dared, and it steadied. I could always take a soldier pill later.

The Naruto clone came up short just before the bell, and even though it tried its hardest it wasn't able to move at all. However, to all the observers it appeared as though the clone was now strung up by its ankles from the tree branch above the bell.

It was then that I sensed Kakashi-sensei. He was closing in to re-claim the bell, and likely to point out how obvious the trap had been, which he undoubtedly knew would only fuel Naruto's anger.

Still keeping up the two genjutsus, I controlled the clone and had it place a kunai on the bell, disarming the trap, and then reached out to grab the bell.

But the clone's hands came up empty, for Kakashi-sensei had taken it so fast that my eyes hadn't been able to follow.

Exhausted from the chakra loss of using three jutsus at once, I collapsed onto the ground, wishing Sasuke would find me before Kakashi-sensei did. Hopefully he was just behind me, but I hadn't checked to see if he was following when I ran off so suddenly.

"That was well played," I heard the voice of Kakashi-sensei say, growing more and more distant with every word. "You almost had me fooled with the genjutsu…."

* * *

I slowly regained consciousness, but left my eyes closed. I had a massive headache, and the light filtering through my eyelids was leaving bright spots floating through my brain. I tried to turn away from the light, but I didn't have the strength too.

"Oh, you're finally awake are you," I heard a familiar voice say.

"Mmm," was the only reply I could make. I was slowly regaining my strength, and with a sudden rush I remembered what had happened before I passed out. I tried to jump to my feet, but all that happened was my body gave an involuntary shudder.

I checked my chakra, and it was almost empty. "Soldier pill?" I managed to push out in a questioning tone. I couldn't tell what Sasuke was doing, except that it seemed like he was moving a bunch of stuff around. Then a small oval object was pressed against my lips and I gladly opened my mouth.

It took several minutes to work fully, but then I was almost back to normal. Both my energy and chakra were at about three quarters full, but it came at a price. I didn't like taking soldier pills because they always made me much more impulsive, due to the sudden increase in energy running through my body. I became almost as hyper as Naruto, except unlike him I didn't have the energy to waste.

I stayed down for several more minutes until my body had adjusted to the sudden injection of energy. I took the time to take in my surroundings. Evidently Sasuke had moved me after I passed out for I didn't recognize anything, and the sights and sounds of the clearing were nowhere to be found. Instead we were at the base of a tree much deeper in the woods than we had been before.

I let out a groan as I scrambled up into a sitting position, and from there got back onto my feet.

"How long was I out," I asked the question I'd been dying to know.

Sasuke looked up from where he was examining his remaining supplies. He cocked his head to one side before answering, as if counting how long, "About two hours," was his reply.

I dropped my chin to my chest. I had failed them. Because I wasn't strong enough we weren't able to get the bells. There was no way Naruto could hold off Kakashi-sensei for that long, even if he managed to keep his temper and stick to the plan. I nearly missed Sasuke's next words because of how deep I was in self-pity.

"—And I don't know how he did it but we should get a move on soon to secure the location," Sasuke was saying when I tuned back in.

"Say what?" I asked him, trying to re-enter the conversation I had clearly not been paying attention to.

Sasuke gave me a look of great annoyance. "I said," he answered while glaring at me, "it's rather impressive that a dead last was able to hold off Kakashi-sensei for this long. Obviously Kakashi-sensei is going easy on him, but it's still not bad. Also we should get a move on, Naruto's clones returned a long time ago with the location of the ambush," Sasuke summed up, not seeing the look of amazement coating my features.

Naruto had done it. Somehow, the lowest ranking academy graduate had saved my plan by matching up toe-to-toe with an elite jounin for two hours. Of course, Sasuke was correct, Kakashi-sensei would be going easy on him, but who would have thought Naruto would be capable of doing that?

"So just let me know when you're ready and we'll head out. They picked a location in the north-east corner of the training ground. Apparently it's a grove that stands out enough that we should be able to find it easily, it has good cover on the outskirts, and all in all is the perfect spot for an ambush," Sasuke said, continuing his report.

"Alright then," I replied, taking it all in as fast as I could. "I'm ready, let's move out."

* * *

The memories preceding the ambush flashed across my mind as the explosion rocked the grove. I used my chakra sensing to see where everyone was at, as smoke was completely obscuring the entire area.

Naruto was rapidly closing in on the middle of the grove from the left, and Sasuke was going in slower from the right. Kakashi-sensei was right in the middle, but it seemed as though the explosion had done minimal damage to him, which was what I had expected.

I ghosted towards Naruto's side. In my head I could see exactly what would happen, but I had to be ready if everything didn't go exactly as planned. If Kakashi-sensei was able to ward off the first rushes, then he would either stand and fight or flee towards the side I was heading towards. Sasuke was the much better fighter, so he would want to put himself farthest away from Sasuke.

I heard the clash of weapons, and as the smoke began to clear I saw that Naruto had flung his shuriken at Kakashi-sensei, which had been blocked by a kunai. Naruto went in at a full sprint, using his momentum to drive the stationary Kakashi-sensei back.

Right back into Sasuke's oncoming rush. As Sasuke jumped Kakashi-sensei from behind, Naruto made a hundred clones so that Kakashi-sensei would have to divide his attention between his two adversaries.

" _How does he still have chakra to do that many clones?!_ " I wondered in astonishment.

I watched as Sasuke made the dive for the bells just as planned, at exactly the same time as the Naruto clones converged from all around Kakashi-sensei. I almost smiled, they both were doing their best to follow my directions, but I didn't, because what I knew from the very beginning was that this plan would never work, Kakashi-sensei was too good to allow it to work. It was why I was now waiting to the side with a genjutsu cast to obscure my body.

I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the moment when he would do it. And there it was! Just before Sasuke's fingers grasped the bells, Kakashi-sensei used a replacement jutsu, and he ended up just to the right of my current location. I kept up the genjutsu and allowed my shadow to creep out and envelop the area around his feet.

I had a genjutsu obscuring the shadow, so as long as Sasuke and Naruto could keep his attention then he wouldn't notice it, or think to look for it. I knew that I would only be able to hold him for a second or two, so I had to wait until my teammates came or else it really would all be over.

I looked to see if they were coming, and I was pleased to see that Sasuke was quickly making his way to our location. Naruto was slightly behind him as he had needed another second to sense where Kakashi-sensei had gone.

I saw Sensei brace himself as Sasuke came flying in, and at the last second I allowed my shadow to connect with his and cried out, "The bells!" hoping that Sasuke would understand.

He did. As Kakashi-sensei fought off my shadow possession jutsu Sasuke was allowed the chance to go after the undefended bells, with Naruto trailing after him ready to attack or defend us no matter which was needed.

Kakashi-sensei finally threw off my jutsu, but the damage was already done. We had managed to steal the bells, and therefore the test was over.

Our jounin sensei just stared at each of us for a minute, as if he couldn't believe that we'd managed to steal them from him. I was thinking along the exact same lines. If even one single thing had happened not according to plan, if Sasuke hadn't found Kakashi-sensei fast enough or hadn't realized what I was trying to tell him than we would have lost. An ambush wouldn't work twice, and there was nothing else I could possible think of that would have given us a better chance than just lining up to challenge him one after the other.

"I'm very impressed with all three of you," said Kakashi-sensei, breaking the stunned silence. He still had a rather shocked look in the one eye we could see.

"You demonstrated teamwork, good coordination, and you trusted each other enough to allow each of you to play pivotal roles," he continued, "and therefore there's nothing I can do but pass you."

I glanced at Naruto and Sasuke with a small smile on my face. Naruto was positively beaming, with his fists thrown up in the air in triumph. Sasuke still had his usual mask covering his face, but I could see that the corner of his mouth was trying hard to turn up into a full smile.

"Congratulations, all three of you are now official genin of team 7," our teacher finished, giving us a twinkling eye smile.

Naruto let out a loud cheer, and Sasuke allowed a satisfied smirk to flicker across his face. I ducked my head, hoping that no one would notice the wide smile I had.

"Well, that's all for today, you can all go home and we'll meet back here in the morning," announced Kakashi-sensei, before disappearing and leaving only a puff of smoke.

We all stood together awkwardly for a moment. I decided that if I didn't do something then no one would, so I went up to each of them in turn and clapped them on the back.

"I'll see you two tomorrow then," I called over my shoulder as I left them there.

I couldn't wait to ask Shikamaru how his test had gone. I was confident that he had passed. They weren't going to fail three clan heirs after all.

The walk home that normally seemed to last forever was over before I knew it, and if asked I wouldn't be able to say a single thing about that walk. The whole time I was replaying the test, giving myself play-by-play commentary as I would if I was telling someone who wasn't there.

When I entered the house I noticed that Father and Shikamaru were both sitting at the table, so I hopped over to join them.

"Seems like someone's in a good mood," Father remarked as he filled up a glass of water and passed it to me. I took it graciously and gulped down its contents. I hadn't realized just how thirsty I was, but now that I was back in the relative safety of my home the survival energy I had been using just to stay upright was starting to disappear.

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. No one said anything as they waited for me to explain what was causing my happiness.

I suddenly opened my eyes and burst out, "My team passed the test!" Father chuckled and Shikamaru just rolled his eyes.

"What did you have to do?" Father asked me.

I hesitated, and then launched into the experiences my team had had today, and how it had led to us taking the bells from Kakashi-sensei.

When I was finished Shikamaru just looked bored, but Father was smiling.

"I'm very proud of you," Father said, ruffling my hair. "Both of you," he amended before Shikamaru could complain about not being loved.

"What did you have to do Shika?" I asked, curious to know how our tests had differed.

"And I think that's my cue to leave," said Father, getting up from the table and leaving the two of us alone.

"Oh, you know, this and that," my brother replied airily, waving his hand back and forth.

This time it was me rolling my eyes. "If I knew then I wouldn't be asking," I stated cheekily.

Shikamaru smirked at that. "We had to buy Asuma-sensei a new pack of cigarettes," he said.

My mouth dropped open in shock. What a joke! We had to overcome an elite jounin and all they had to do was buy something from a store. I shook my head disbelievingly.

"I got back about an hour ago. We didn't have to meet up as early either. Why did your sensei make you get together at 5am?" Shikamaru inquired.

My face heated up a little, "He didn't, I just wanted to scout it out a bit," I muttered down at my water glass.

When I looked up Shikamaru was laughing. "Only you Shikai!" he cried out while gasping for air. I wasn't sure whether to be insulted or try to help him in case he was choking.

Eventually he calmed down. I had decided that after what he said it wasn't worth it to help him, even if he was choking.

"I'm going to bed," I said suddenly, getting up from the table and heading towards the stairs.

"Waaaait," called Shikamaru, "I have a message to deliver." I stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I'm listening," I called back.

"Ino says 'Good luck! I know you'll do great,'" he said.

"Is that all," I asked impatiently. I was tired enough to fall asleep just standing there.

"No, she also wanted to come cheer you on, but when I pointed out that that would just be distracting for you she agreed to save it until tomorrow," my older brother said grinning again.

I headed up to my room to collapse into the welcoming arms of sleep, all the while hoping Shikamaru couldn't see that I'd turned bright red.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I had really good time writing this chapter, so I hope y'all like it. Next chapter is probably just gonna be fluff, a couple D-ranks and conversations. Ino did promise to meet up with Shikai's team after all. And I haven't written about Choji in a while.**

 **I've noticed that I do a lot better, at least from my point of view, when I can get it all done in one or two sittings. Last chapter was spaced out over a week, and after the first part with Shikamaru it just didn't feel as cohesive, but this one I did over two sittings, and I honestly think that this was my best chapter. If not oh well, at least I got to have fun with it and experiment with battles.**

 **Any feedback y'all could give me would go a long ways, since this is my first story. I've read a lot of fanfictions, so I've seen what's worked, but it's so different reading from writing, and it's really hard to judge my own work.**

 **Answer:** _I need to start choosing easier ones. I'd have to go with Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen. That story is also about a sibling of Shikamaru's, which might be why I like it so much, but I definitely won't be going in that same direction with mine at all._

 **Question:** _Favorite food?_

* * *

TBC


	7. Chapter 6: Friendly Challenge

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

 **InfectedElite:** I hope I make it too. I've got a lot planned out so far, so as long as I stay motivated then I don't see why I wouldn't finish it. And I don't want to spoil too much, but never in any of the fanfics I may or may not write will SaixIno ever be a thing, so don't worry about that.

 **erinlyon9:** I'm glad you enjoyed it too! Sorry about the transition, my brother said it was confusing too, but he didn't read it until after it was already released, so I didn't even think of making it clearer. And ugh! I completely forgot about the whole memorial stone thing. I thought it happened later. I went back and re-watched that episode to refresh my memory since it's been two years, and can't believe I left it out. I'll definitely add it in somewhere, but it might be a little while so that I can find a way to work it in naturally.

 **Chapter 7: Friendly Challenge**

* * *

The sun still hadn't risen, and the dew was glistening off of the grass and leaves. My two teammates were both sitting down beside me, none of us speaking as we waited in the dark for our sensei to arrive.

I picked up a stick, trailing one end in the grass, drawing an imaginary picture that only I could see. It was blissfully quiet. Even Naruto was silent, although I wasn't entirely sure he was still awake.

Dropping the stick, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the early morning sky, letting my arms flop out behind me. I let out a deep sigh. What was the point of gathering so early if the leader of the team was always late?

I turned my head so that it was facing the rest of my team. Naruto's head had drooped down against his chest, and it was rising and falling as he breathed in and out. Sasuke was absently bobbing his head as he stared off into the distance.

It was right at that moment that Kakashi-sensei finally made his appearance.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, starting one of his generic apologizes with his eye crinkled in an eye smile. "I got lost on the path of life."

I didn't even say anything. Kakashi-sensei was set in his ways, and even if he gave these lame excuses, I was sure that he wasn't even trying to get here or anywhere else on time. The only one who reacted to his consistent tardiness was Naruto.

"You're late!" Naruto screeched at Kakashi-sensei. However no one even took notice of him.

"So today I thought we could start doing missions," our sensei said, glancing around at each of us in turn.

"Yeah, real missions," cheered Naruto. I rubbed the side of my head, Naruto had just been awake for five minutes and he was already giving me a headache. How long did genin squads usually last?

"Alright, then we should go pick up a mission from the missions desk," called Kakashi-sensei, already bounding off.

Naruto, Sasuke, and I jumped after him. We stretched out into a single file line; Kakashi-sensei at the front followed by Naruto and then Sasuke, while I lagged behind and brought up the rear.

I stopped beside the other three when they halted in front of the Hokage tower. Kakashi-sensei looked around to see that we were all there, and nodded when he confirmed that we were. We followed as he pushed through the door and made his way over towards the missions desk.

The inside of the Hokage tower had nothing but the missions desk and a staircase on the ground floor. Most of the lower floor space was taken up by the academy, and therefore everything else had to be done upstairs.

We flanked Kakashi-sensei as he asked for the list of available D-rank missions. I felt a little nervous, we were about to get our first mission together as a team. I glanced at Naruto and Sasuke, who were on either side of me. Naruto was grinning as if he couldn't wait for what was to come, and Sasuke still looked as stoic as ever.

"I think we'll start out with the Tora retrieval mission," Kakashi-sensei was saying to the chunin behind the desk.

"Alright, I'll cross that one off then. Will you be taking another mission later?" he replied, making a note on the piece of paper before him.

"We'll see. But I think they are probably going to be up for another one or two," Kakashi-sensei answered turning to leave.

The chunin chuckled as we left. "He's giving them Tora retrieval for their first mission? Talk about a slave driver!"

As we left the tower I wondered what we would be doing. Tora retrieval, it wasn't something I recognized. But based on the desk chunin's reaction it must be difficult, at least for new academy graduates.

Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything as he sped away through the village, leaving us no team to converse so that we wouldn't fall behind. Even though he wasn't going at his fastest pace, we were barely able to keep up.

He finally stopped in the middle of a civilian housing district. I hunched over, taking deep gulps of air. When my heart beat had slowed enough I looked around. I had never been to this particular part of the village; I had no need to since I didn't have any civilian friends.

"So, are you three ready to hear what our first mission is?" Kakashi-sensei asked us with his characteristic eye smile.

"Yes, tell us, tell us," cheered Naruto. I grinned at his reaction while Sasuke just rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Our first mission," said Kakashi-sensei, pausing for dramatic effect, "is to return a lost cat to her owner!" he finished dramatically.

"WHAAAAT?!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly, "That's not a real mission."

"Why of course it is, someone has to do it after all," Kakashi-sensei said happily.

The smile was gone from my face, and even Sasuke didn't look happy. But it was a mission, and even though we didn't like it we had enough self-control to act professional. My brain was already working franticly to find a quick and easy solution to the issue.

"Sensei," I started, "all we have to do is capture and return Tora, right? It doesn't matter how, does it?

"Well, no," Kakashi-sensei replied, "as long as Tora is caught then it doesn't really matter. What do you have in mind?"

I grinned, this might not be too bad after all. "Naruto, make a ton of shadow clones. We can smoke out Tora from wherever she's hiding, and then we can chase her down easily."

I noticed that everyone was thinking about what I said, as if looking for some flaw in a plan that seemed to simple to work.

It was Sasuke who spoke first. "Why can't the shadow clones do the capturing? Then we could take another mission in the meantime," he said.

"That won't work because if the cat scratches the shadow clones then they'll pop," I reasoned.

Sasuke nodded, his doubts assuaged. Now that everyone agreed, Naruto made about 50 shadow clones and dispersed them around the area.

"Sooo, what do you guys want to do while they work?" I asked my teammates.

"We could go grab some ramen," Naruto suggested. Sasuke groaned loudly, but since he couldn't think of anything better to do, the three of us trudged off to Ichiraku's Ramen, leaving Kakashi-sensei wondering what happened to his team.

"This ramen is the best in the world!" Naruto loudly proclaimed as we sat down at Ichiraku's.

It was a small ramen stand, with only a bar to sit at. We were the only customers there, but from the owner's loud and friendly greeting to Naruto it was clear that he was a regular customer at the restaurant.

"Three bowls of Ichiraku's original please," Naruto called out, ordering for all three of us.

The service was good. It was only a man and his daughter, but they had a friendly demeanor, and quickly got us our food. The ramen was okay, but not good enough to where I would go out of my way to come here. Sasuke didn't seem to like it much either, but Naruto was guzzling down bowl after bowl.

After the fifth bowl I began hoping that Kakashi-sensei would show up, because I wasn't sure if the three of us had enough money to pay for all the food Naruto was eating.

Luckily he was interrupted in the middle of his seventh bowl by the arrival of a clone.

"Boss," the clone said, inclining his head towards Naruto, "we found the cat. It's just outside the civilian housing district, in a wooded area."

"Alright, we'll be right there," Naruto sighed, glancing forlornly at his unfinished food. We paid, and with considerably less money than when we walked in, we headed towards the area where the dispelled clone had told us we would find Tora.

We arrived to see a large circle of clones crowding around a frightened cat. The three of us jumped into the middle of the circle and took our stances. I let my shadow crawl across the ground and connect with the shadow of the cat, causing it to freeze in place, and giving Sasuke the chance to easily scoop it up in his arms.

Next we had to locate Kakashi-sensei so that we would know where to return the cat to. He was easy to find, just reading his book where we left him. After we told him that we had Tora, he led us to the house where the cat lived. When we returned the cat to its owner, all three of us were shocked.

"I would run away too if I were that cat," Naruto remarked quietly. The lady who owned poor Tora was squeezing the cat against her in what she must have thought was a hug. The cat clearly couldn't breathe, and somehow the owner wasn't noticing. We could also see an example of the décor of the house. Everything that was visible was dedicated to giving the cat a lavish lifestyle.

"So, are you three up for another mission?" Kakashi-sensei asked after we exited the house.

The three of us looked at each other.

"I want to meet up with my brother's team later, but I've got time to do one more if you want," I offered.

Sasuke and Naruto both nodded, so as one team 7 turned and sped off to the Hokage tower once again.

"Back so soon?" joked the chunin on duty as we approached the missions desk for the second time.

"Do you still have that fence building mission?" Kakashi-sensei asked him.

"Yes, not many teams are taking D-ranks that simple right now, since most of the genin teams are pretty experienced, and the three rookie teams just got put together," the chunin said, this time without a smile.

"Then we'll take it," said Kakashi-sensei.

This time we knew what to expect, so there were no groans or complaints.

"Oh, and this time you can't use any jutsu," said Kakashi-sensei with an eye smile that made it seem like he was saying something kind. The three of us stared at him in horror. And just like that Kakashi-sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving us to chase after him.

We caught up to him as he was jumping across the rooftops to the south east of the Hokage tower. We were already half way across Konoha at that point, it didn't take long for ninja to traverse the distance.

"Have you come this way before?" I questioned Sasuke. I had noticed that he was looking around with an unsurprised look on his face, as if he was familiar with his surroundings.

His jaw tightened and his face morphed into a closed off look. "Yeah, I live just over there," he grunted, pointing to our right.

" _Huh, I didn't know he lived over here. I wonder where Naruto lives,_ " I wondered, continuing the thought. I filed the question away for future reference.

Ahead of us Kakashi-sensei started slowing down, letting us know we were close to our destination. He jumped to the ground and turned around to face us as we too came to a stop.

"This is where we will be building the fence. The materials are all here, and if you don't know what to do you can ask me or read the instructions over there," he said, pointing at a piece of paper lying next to the materials.

I sighed, this was going to be a long day. How did he expect us to build a whole fence by ourselves without jutsu?

I followed Naruto and Sasuke over to the stack of wooden posts, and start lugging them over to where we had to set them up. I set it down as soon as I got there and wiped my forehead. Konoha was too hot for this kind of physical labor.

* * *

"Wow, that was rough," said Naruto. We had just finished putting together the fence. It ended up taking several hours, and with the afternoon sun just past its peak we had decided to call it a day. Kakashi-sensei had quickly disappeared, leaving us three all alone.

"Yeah it was hard," I agreed. This exercise had really shown the difference in our ages. Sasuke and Naruto were able to do a lot more than me a lot faster. I also had to take more breaks, something that I wasn't quite proud of.

"So what do you guys want to do together?" Naruto asked me and Sasuke, "I mean, we are a team now so we should do something together as a team, since it's our first day."

"If we don't have any missions then I'm going home," Sasuke said, turning to leave.

"Wait Sasuke," I called to prevent him from leaving quite yet. "I was wondering if you two would want to come visit my brother's team with me."

Sasuke paused, and looked back over his shoulder. I already knew Naruto would come, since it would be the 'team activity' he wanted, but Sasuke I wasn't sure about.

He hesitated, undecided on whether or not to join us or go off by himself and do whatever he did in his free time. After a minute of wavering, he finally came to a decision. He turned around and said, "Alright, where are we meeting them?"

Allowing a smile to flit across my face, I quickly seized the chance Sasuke had given me, "I know where they are training today. Shikamaru said that they weren't going to take an actual mission until tomorrow so that they had time to work on teamwork. Follow me, it's not too far," I said turning in the direction of the training ground Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and I had used together as we were growing up.

I scurried off, the other two trailing behind me since they didn't know where we were going. It only took us a couple minutes to get there because of the fast pace we were going at, and as I said it wasn't that far.

When I could see the four figures of team 10 training on the field, I slowed down to a jog so that we had time to catch our breath.

"Hey guys," I called to my brother's team when we got close enough. There was no reaction from Shikamaru, who knew I was going to come by and visit sometime today. But Choji turned around grinning and said, "Hey Shikai, it's been awhile," and Ino let out a shrill shriek and fell down from the branch she was perched upon.

"It's good to see you to Choji," I answered. "Guys this is my team, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha," I continued, gesturing to Naruto and Sasuke in turn. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ino running her hands through her hair to make sure it hadn't been messed up when she fell.

" _You can do it Ino,_ " I silently encouraged, " _just don't fangirl and you'll be fine, just no fangirling!_ "

"Naruto, Sasuke, this is my brother Shikamaru, and his teammates Ino and Choji," I told my team, pointing out each one of the team 10 members.

"Hey, you forgot about me," interjected a voice I didn't recognize. "I'm Asuma Sarutobi, leader of team 10," said a tall, grinning figure walking up from behind my brother's team, the lesson he was teaching long forgotten. "Well I guess this is going to be all the practice we get for the day, so I'll just leave you six alone." And with that he disappeared, almost as fast as Kakashi-sensei had.

"Shikamaru told me that you guys only had to buy a pack of cigarettes for your test yesterday, how did that go," I asked with a small smirk. I could easily predict my teammates' reactions to that statement, and just like I thought, both Sasuke and Naruto had indignant looks on their faces.

"They only had to buy cigarettes? What the heck, ours was so much harder!" Naruto yelled in rage. To further his point, he punched an invisible enemy, angrily assaulting the air.

"Oh, ours was nothing special. The only issue was preventing these two from being sidetracked. What did you three have to do?" Ino asked eagerly.

"Ohhhh, it was super cool," Naruto declared, his punching having finally calmed him down. "We had to defeat Kakashi-sensei," he said with a huge grin.

Choji and Ino's jaws dropped. Shikamaru didn't look surprised, but I had already told him the whole story. Ino and Choji were undoubtedly now about to get the exaggerated version from Naruto.

"So at first I just straight up attacked Kakashi-sensei, but it was pretty clear from the beginning that I wouldn't have a shot. Then Shikai—"

When my name was mentioned, as I knew it would be, I ducked my head in embarrassment. But even though I was self-conscious I still allowed the glow of pleasure I felt from the success of the bell test to show in a small smile.

"—told me about this plan he had where we could all team up on Kakashi-sensei and take the bells. After that I distracted Kakashi-sensei with my clones until the trap was ready, but at one point my clone almost fell for a trap and Shikai had to save it, but I think Kakashi-sensei hit him at the time because he collapsed and had to be rescued by Sasuke. Then when they told me the trap was done I lead Kakashi-sensei to the ambush site with my clones and after all the paper bombs blew up we jumped him. I distracted him while Sasuke went for the bells, but Kakashi-sensei was too good and got away, but Shikai was ready for it and trapped him long enough for Sasuke to grab the bells," Naruto finished, somehow managing the whole story in just a single breath.

At this point Ino and Choji were so shocked that it took them several seconds to fully comprehend everything that had been said.

"But how could you overcome him? He's a jounin," Ino pointed out.

"We just outsmarted him Ino. If he had taken us seriously we probably wouldn't have had a chance, but he didn't. When he used a replacement jutsu to escape Naruto and Sasuke I got close enough to him to use my shadow possession jutsu, but waited until Sasuke was right on top of him to use it because I knew that if I didn't he would break it too fast for it to be of use," I explained to Ino and Choji both. When I'd told Shikamaru the story I hadn't even needed to explain a single decision I made because he had figured it out faster than I had.

"That was well planned Shikai, and well executed by all three of you," Choji said admiringly, "I bet you three had to do everything perfectly for it to work, I doubt we could have done it."

"It was hard, but we were able to do it because we are the Hidden Leaf's strongest genin team!" Naruto declared with a trademark ear to ear grin.

"You think you are better than all of the genin teams from the years above us?" Ino asked incredulously. "And who says you are even better than us or the other rookie team? Shikai said it himself, you just got lucky because Kakashi-sensei wasn't going all out."

"No genin team could even come close to beating Kakashi-sensei if he was going all out, he's just too strong," Sasuke added.

"We-e-ell yeah, of course," stuttered Ino, desperately backtracking so that Sasuke didn't think she was disagreeing with him. I hung my head in disappointment as she continued, it really was too obvious. "I just meant that you can't consider yourselves the best because you beat Kakashi-sensei when he was going easy on you. That doesn't prove you are any better than us or any of the other teams," she finished somewhat heatedly.

My head snapped up in surprise, and I smirked. "Is that a challenge, Ino?" I wondered in mock surprise.

Everyone's gaze snapped on to me as I said that, and I could make out the tensing up of muscles in Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto.

"In that case, I accept on behalf of team 7," I finished, my grin growing wider at the panicked look growing on Ino's face. Without a doubt I knew that we would be able to win in a confrontation, and Ino knew it too, but to save face they would have to continue with the challenge that I had made up.

I knew we would win because even though they were one of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho teams, they would be at a disadvantage right from the start. Even without considering that team 7 had already battled together, I knew Ino well enough to know that the only one of us she would attack without pulling her punches was Naruto. There was absolutely no way she would attack her crush, Sasuke, and she wouldn't go after me because she undoubtedly still saw me as the cute, helpless kid always tagging along after Shikamaru, who she had helped take care of when we were younger.

"Alright fine, last man standing in one on one battles or three versus three?" droned Shikamaru.

I didn't even bother to ask my teammates what they thought, because I already knew what both of them would say, and it was exactly what I thought too. "It doesn't matter, we'll win no matter which one. You can pick," I answered, deferring the option to them.

"Then we pick team battle, we start in ten minutes. You guys wait here and we'll go to the opposite side of the training field," Shikamaru told us, motioning for his team to head off.

As soon as they disappeared from sight I huddled in with Naruto and Sasuke and started telling them everything that might be helpful for this battle.

"Shikamaru is going to be the commander of those three, he has the same shadow possession jutsu as I do, but he's better at it, and he's smarter than me. Choji has his own clan jutsu where he can expand his body and turn himself into a human bowling ball. Ino is able to transfer her consciousness into someone else's body and take over them, but it leaves her own body exposed, so she only does it in the company of Shika. Shikamaru is weak with taijutsu, and Choji has nothing but taijutsu, so try to attack him from a distance. Ino has fairly strong taijutsu and will likely have projectiles, which she is decent with, but both of you should be able to overpower her," I stated, before stopping, deep in thought.

The matchups were going to be tough. I wasn't a good matchup against Shikamaru, just because he was better than me in everything, and my genjutsu would be ineffective because he'd seen it so many times and had therefore learned how to dispel them. He was going to be the hardest to take down. Naruto couldn't go against him because his main strategy was shadow clones, and shadow stitching would make them useless, leaving only Sasuke, who would be smart enough to have a chance against Shikamaru's incredible intellect.

Choji should be attacked by someone with long distance options, meaning either me or Sasuke, but since Sasuke had to go against Shikamaru, then I should theoretically have to face Choji. But I wanted to take advantage of Ino's mental weaknesses, and putting Naruto up against her wouldn't do that. If I could somehow set it up where Sasuke and Shikamaru had a one on one matchup and then Naruto and I took on Choji and Ino alone then I would get the advantage over Ino and would easily be able to take down Choji.

Actually, I doubted Choji or Ino would be able to recognize a genjutsu, and if they did, I was almost positive that they couldn't dispel it. So if I could take them out and prevent Shikamaru from releasing them by doubling up Sasuke and Naruto on him, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The only thing I was really worried about was what plan Shikamaru would come up with. But I shook aside my doubts as I relayed my idea to my two teammates. "Naruto, Sasuke, you two are going to go after Shikamaru. He's the mastermind behind team 10, so if you can take him down then the last two will be easy to beat. I can keep them stalled at least long enough for you to beat him," I told them.

"And lastly, this training ground is almost entirely a grass field, with just a few trees here and there. Since cover is scarce, use it to your advantage, and think about how they might be using it too," I finished. Now all that was left was to wait out the few minutes that remained.

When my mental timer struck zero, I motioned for Sasuke and Naruto to go on ahead while I brought up the rear. Normally the sensor travelled in the front, but since we already knew there was an enemy straight up ahead, we didn't really need to sense anything.

I strained my chakra sensing ability to the max, but I couldn't feel anything. If there was one thing that team 10 had us beat in, it was sneaking around and avoiding people. Their whole strategy was about catching people unaware and trapping them. They weren't strong in straight up confrontations, and they knew that.

The first thing any of us noticed was when a shadow sprang out from behind a tree, almost catching Sasuke, who was able to jump to the side when he saw it coming. Now that all of us were on our guard, we waited for team 10 to show themselves. But they stayed hidden.

"Naruto, send a clone to check behind that tree," I called out to him as quietly as I could.

A clone puffed into existing and walked nervously over to the tree, but when it looked behind it, it straightened up, turned back around, and shook its head. What was Shikamaru's plan?

Then it hit me, and I almost laughed out loud. It was so very Shikamaru. Hit and run tactics. They would strike quick, and even if they succeeded they would run away right afterwards so as not to be caught in a straight up battle.

If that was the case then all we had to do was corner them.

"Change of plans, same strategy, but we are going to spread out a lot more so that we can encircle them and they won't be able to run away again," I said. They nodded and quickly went their own ways, Sasuke off to the left and Naruto to the right, leaving me to bring up the middle.

It wasn't long before they struck again, this time a shadow coming out from behind me. I flared my chakra and let out a shout to alert Naruto and Sasuke to their presence, before using chakra to increase my speed and flying past where they had been hiding, trapping them in between all three of us.

I could just make out the distinctive colors in the clothes they were wearing and Ino's bright blonde hair through the bushes they were hiding behind.

"Come on out," I called to them, "I know you're there, and you're trapped so there's no running away."

There was no response from the three of them. Only Choji's enlarged form rolling out towards me. I smirked, it was almost too easy. I stretched out my shadow to trap him, but I knew it would only slow him down because of his sheer power and momentum.

But they extra time allowed me to set up a genjutsu that I knew would work on Choji. I waited until the last minute to jump to the left, out of the path of Choji, but allowed one of my hands to bounce off of his large frame, discharging chakra into him to set up my genjutsu. Using the distraction of the smell of barbecue coming from one side, I watched as Choji immediately changed directions and barreled off towards where he thought the smell was coming from.

I smiled when I thought of the reactions Ino and Shikamaru must be having, to have their team's one heavy hitter dispatched so quickly. This time both Shikamaru and Ino came after me.

I dropped into my stance. I could feel the chakra signals of Sasuke and Naruto about to arrive, but I had to stay focused until they did, because the combination of both Ino and Shikamaru at once stacked the odds against me.

The moved to flank me, Ino coming around on my right, the side Choji had run off to, and Shikamaru going to my left. I let them come close. I would have to make my move quick, or else they would have time to use greater numbers to overtake me.

I feinted at Ino before turning back to Shikamaru and throwing some senbon from my weapons pouch. I jumped to the side, to avoid Ino's punch, before preparing to engage her in a short taijutsu match. But I had to be careful of Shikamaru intervening.

I punched Ino, but she blocked it. A small smile crawled across her face, but quickly disappeared when she noticed what I had done.

"Shikai!" she yelled in disappointment for falling for the cheap trick. But the results are all that matter, so I didn't mind doing something that others might call cheap. When I had punched Ino, I hadn't actually been intending to harm her, I was just going for the physical contact, because that would mean that our shadows would intersect, and I could place her under my shadow possession jutsu.

Deciding that it was time to end this, I leaned forward and to the right, so that my lips were right beside her ear, and said, "I'm sorry for this."

I reached out my right hand and grabbed her left one, allowing my chakra to flow through her, and making her brain think that she was asleep. I slowly lay down on the ground before releasing the shadow possession. Since I was the only thing keeping Ino up, I didn't want to just dump her on the ground.

I looked around, wondering why Shikamaru hadn't attacked me yet. When I saw him I understood why. He was standing to the side, watching me, flanked by Naruto and Sasuke.

"You surrendered? That's disappointing Shika, your teammates both fought and you just quit when things got tough," I chastised him.

"Wake Ino up, since the battle's over there's no need to leave her unconscious," was his only response.

I smiled. If nothing else, Shikamaru was a softy. He always put the health of his team first. Even though he had quit in this battle, it was because he knew he couldn't win, and his first thought was taking care of his teammates.

I crouched down beside Ino and pulled my chakra out of her. She woke up groggily.

"What happened?" she mumbled after opening her eyes and looking up at me.

"I just gave you a quick nap, the battle's over now," I said calmly.

"Oh, well that's too bad," she muttered back. She looked around and her eyes widened. "Where's Choji?" she asked nervously.

I jumped to my feet, "Aww shoot, I completely forgot about him," I said before sprinting off in the direction I'd sent him. It took me a good five minutes to track him down. He was disappointed with how his fight had gone, but shrugged it off quickly and good naturedly congratulated me on the victory.

When we got back Ino was sitting up and had moved into the shade of a nearby tree, and the other three were clustered around her, trying to stay out of the sun's cruel rays.

"I think we proved that we are the number one genin team, what do you think Naruto?" I asked with a small grin.

Naruto pouted, "No fair Shikai, I didn't even get to do anything. But we definitely are the best!" he said, his face brightening.

Choji and Ino laughed. "I don't know about best, but you are definitely better than us," Choji commented dryly.

"Yeah, although if you are the best that makes us seem stronger," Ino agreed.

"We just got lucky," I stated simply, "we've already had a chance to fight together and work on teamwork, you three haven't."

I thought that that would be the end, but before I could even finish Shikamaru was shaking his head. "We've been messing around together for years, I know for a fact that you three didn't interact until a couple days ago, so you were at the disadvantage," praised Shikamaru. My eyes widened, Shikamaru didn't give out praise often, and never without reason.

"That was fun, but I'm going to go home now. See you tomorrow Shikai, Naruto," muttered Sasuke, turning to go.

"Me too, my mom said that she would make hotdogs for dinner to celebrate our first day training as a team," said Choji smiling.

"Bye guys," I said to them.

"BYE!" Naruto called out to their retreating forms, before turning to look at us, "I have to go as well," he said sadly.

"Cheer up Naruto, we'll see each other tomorrow," I said jokingly.

Now it was only me, Shikamaru, and Ino.

"Hey Shikai," started Ino in her teasing voice, "since you knocked me out I haven't been feeling too good. Would you mind carrying me back home?"

"I'll be at home," Shikamaru grunted, and almost sprinted away from us and towards the Nara clan compound.

"Uhh, yeah, sure," I replied, my face heating up as I looked after my older brother's retreating form.

Ino raised her arms up as I crouched down before her. She slung her arms around my neck and I stood up. I waited a second in order to get used to the new weight on my back, and then started walking the path to Ino's house.

"How's your sensei?" Ino asked, breaking what for me had been an awkward silence.

"He's alright, he's always late to everything though, but he's supposed to be really strong," I managed to choke out. It wasn't because I was nervous, Ino's arms around my neck were rather tight and I was having a hard time breathing, much less talking.

We stayed in silence for several minutes before I finally said, "How's yours?"

"He's pretty cool," replied Ino brightly. "He's the son of the Hokage, and at one point he was a part of the 12 guardian ninja, so he's really strong. He's also smart, he played Shikamaru in shogi earlier today and he almost won."

I almost choked on my own spit. " _He almost beat Shikamaru? That's crazy, only Father ever even comes close to beating him. Father always wins, but no one ever gives Shikamaru a challenge,_ " I thought incredulously.

"Oh, we're here already, that's a shame. You can put me down now," said Ino.

As instructed I lowered her to the ground. She stood up and walked to the front door and opened it.

"Wait, if you can walk why did I have to carry you all the way here?" I asked her. She turned around and looked at me with a mysterious smile on her face.

"No reason, I just thought it would be fun," said Ino with a small giggle. Then she spun around and disappeared inside her house.

I sighed. Father was right, women were nothing but trouble.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Ugh, I really struggled with this chapter, but I hit my stride after team 10 entered it, and I really liked that part. Next chapter will be the land of waves arc with Haku and Zabuza. That should be fun, since it's a relatively small arc with lots of battles and action it should be interesting to write.**

 **InfectedElite there's a short ShikaixIno moment for you. I think that is going to be the only one before Shippuden, except for one moment which I have planned out, but it's not a romantic one so don't get your hopes up. And no, this is not a foreshadowing of a pairing between the two. Just as a reminder, no pairings are decided yet. I'll probably decide soon though so that I can start throwing out hints about any future pairing I do end up doing.**

 **I'm getting really excited for this story lately, so I might end up putting out some extra chapters just cause I want to keep writing it. Honestly I probably want to find out what happens more than y'all do. Even though I have the backbone planned, I like to let all the fluff and filler flow by itself.**

 **Do y'all remember the dream Shikai had in the park he found? The reason behind it will be revealed in the next chapter (probably), so if y'all have any ideas about what it could be I'd love if you'd tell me your guesses. Honestly at first I felt it was really obvious, but looking back it seemed kinda vague, so I can't wait to see if anyone figured it out.**

 **Answer:** _Texmex in general, it's the food of the gods. More specifically, I'd have to go with enchiladas. Now I want to go get some..._

 **Question:** _Cats or dogs?_

* * *

TBC


	8. Chapter 7: Escape from the Walls

Disclaimer: I might not own Naruto, but I own his favorite teammate.

 **erinlyon:** Loving the long reviews! Yeah that was pretty much exactly what I was going for with the dream. Why I can't really tell you yet 'cause spoilers. As for the memorial stone, I was struggling with an idea but I found one that works really well, in my opinion of course. The age difference is a tough one, I agree. I have thought of a couple of things but none of them are without flaws, so I'm just gonna let that one slide until I get there, for now at least.

 **Chapter 8: Escape from the Walls**

* * *

"This is stupid," Naruto complained. We had just finished our first D-rank mission of the day, weeding the garden of a kind old lady, and were on our way to pick up another. "Seriously," he went on, folding his arms behind his head, "all we are doing is chores, can we have a real mission now Kakashi-sensei? Please?"

Sasuke and I rolled our eyes simultaneously. But on the inside, I was dying for some action. We hadn't had a fight since we faced up against team 10, and that was a completely one sided affair. Our initial fight with Kakashi-sensei had roused my fighter's spirit, and I desperately wanted a high stakes challenge.

"Actually, I think we should take a C-rank mission too. We could use the experience of leaving the village. Even if it's a simple mission, seeing the world would let us learn a lot more than doing the same thing in the streets we've known since we were born," I commented, getting surprised looks from my two fellow genin.

While I wasn't as lazy as Shikamaru, it was still common knowledge that I wasn't a fan of physical exertion, preferring to only use my mind, if anything at all. All of the endurance training Kakashi-sensei demanded of his team only emphasized this, I was constantly falling further and further behind. Sasuke had already started off way better than either of us at everything, but Naruto had insane amounts of energy, and throw in Kakashi-sensei and I was quickly left in the dust.

But I could see why we needed to do it. As fresh genin, we were most impressionable right from the beginning, and because our bodies were still growing and hadn't hardened into stiff models yet, now was the time that we could make the biggest increase to our physical attributes. I may not have been a fan, but I grudgingly accepted that it was a necessity. Luckily my fighting style didn't require much movement, so I could still get away with being slower than all the other genin, but if I ever wanted to advance my career, having a solid base speed would help tremendously.

Kakashi-sensei had also started teaching us taijutsu. Not the basic steps and jabs of the academy, but real taijutsu that we could use in battle. He selected individual styles for each of us, playing to our strengths and diminishing our weaknesses.

For me he chose a quick-footed technique based on dodging and counterattacks to my opponents' weak point. Since taijutsu wasn't something I would be using often, I was able to slack off a little whenever we practiced it without feeling to guilty. As far as I knew, I was the only one of the three of us who had seen first-hand what the horrors of a shinobi lifestyle could do to a person. Therefore, I hated slacking off, and every second of training was a battle my will waged on the comfort I knew taking a break would provide.

Naruto got a heavy handed technique, with focus on brutal attacks with absolute disregard for his own welfare. Sasuke absolutely refused to change his style away from the classic Uchiha style taijutsu, which featured many attacks using all the parts of the body to do damage, but relied heavily on the sharingan to aid the user in combat.

When we weren't training we were taking D-rank missions, which ranged from walking someone's dogs, babysitting kids, or weeding gardens like what we had just completed.

Kakashi-sensei had been very clear that he wouldn't take us on any missions he didn't think we were ready for, and while I was glad that he wasn't just throwing us out into the deep end, the life of a ninja was supposed to be filled with excitement and stimulation, but so far I'd only guaranteed that I would have back problems before I turned 30.

It was the reason why I had actually agreed with Naruto, and asked if we could take a C-rank mission. It was the reason why I now had a pleading look on my face, trying to take advantage of the small resemblance I still had to the cute thing I was as a toddler.

To be perfectly honest, I knew it wouldn't help at all, but I wanted the chance to leave the village so badly that I felt I had to do everything I possibly could to make it happen, even if I knew it wouldn't work.

"Hmm," muttered Kakashi-sensei, intent on playing with our hopes until the end, "I don't know, do you really think you can handle it?"

"We can't know until we try," I pressed stubbornly.

"He's right Kakashi-sensei. The only way we can truly get better is by learning from hands on experience. Simulations and practice won't help nearly as much in the real world as actually having done it before," Sasuke butted in.

"Well I guess we could give it a try," said Kakashi-sensei, slowly starting to waver in his decision.

" _Score!_ " I thought, mentally giving Naruto and Sasuke fist bumps. This was it, the chance to finally leave the village.

I barely noticed the walk back to the Hokage tower, or the walk up the stairs to the Hokage's office, not the regular desk where we normally received our missions. I didn't even noticed this difference until we were standing in front of the third Hokage, and his immense and powerful chakra caused me to break out in a cold sweat.

"This is a surprise," said the Third, "I didn't expect to see you back here for quite some time Kakashi."

"These three managed to convince me that they deserve a shot at a C-rank mission," replied our sensei.

"It just so happens that I have the perfect mission for them, please send in the client," the Hokage said, raising his voice at the end so that someone outside of the room could hear.

The door opened, revealing the tall form of a man who appeared slightly drunk, his bottle still in hand. The man was wearing a straw hat and glasses, and had a shabby beard trailing from his chin.

He opened his bleary eyes and they trailed over us. "These kids are supposed to guard me? I'm a very important person, I can't entrust my life to these three. Especially the one with no fashion sense, he looks completely useless," the man said with a tone of disgust, his obvious contempt showing in his scowl.

Naruto burst out laughing at those words. "Who's the one with no fashion sense," he asked, glancing around, still chuckling at the insulting words of the mysterious man.

I held my breath, waiting for the bubble to burst as he took in Sasuke's white shorts and navy shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, and my own dark grey pants and dark green cutoff shirt with the sleeves of a mesh undershirt showing beneath it. I watched as the image of dawning comprehension appeared on Naruto's face. The look of understanding quickly turning to anger and exploding outwards, and without even realizing that we had done so, Sasuke and I moved as one, each grabbing one of Naruto's arms before he could strangle our client.

"I don't know what you're trying to pull Mister, but I'm a great ninja and one day I will be Hokage, believe it," he screamed in rage.

"That's nice Naruto, but that's our client you are yelling at and I don't think he particularly appreciates it," Kakashi-sensei jumped in, trying to salvage the situation.

"No I do not," the man said with a sniff, tilting his head upwards and away from us as if to symbolize he thought us beneath his concern.

Normally I would have been insulted if a civilian dismissed us for no reason other than our age. As ninja of the Hidden Leaf we were legally adults, but today I didn't mind. I could forgive the man because without him we could still be weeding gardens.

"Your mission," the Hokage said quickly in order to redirect the flow of conversation back on target. "Your mission is to escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to his home in the Land of Waves, and to guard him while he finishes building his bridge."

"Everyone meet at the main gate in an hour's time," said Kakashi-sensei before he disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

I glanced at my two teammates and grinned. This was going to be fun.

* * *

I scrambled through the piles of clothes and equipment piled up on the floor of the bedroom I shared with my brother. Father had taken us out to buy 'new toys' as he called them once we had both passed our second test. We hadn't yet had a chance to use them, hence why they were lying in a mess on the floor, until today.

I pushed past a box of kunai in favor of the one holding senbon. Senbon were used more as precision weapons and would allow me more options for entrapping opponents in a genjutsu. I filled up my weapons pouch with them, and also added a kunai and several explosive tags just in case.

Once the pouch was completely full, I looked around for the rest of my new gear. My arm guards I found underneath a pile of Shikamaru's dirty clothes. I smiled as I gazed down at the brown leather guards in the exact same mold as Father's. I pulled them on and fastened them, then went about loading up a change of clothes, toiletries, and the small amount of money I had saved up into the standard grey backpack Father had gotten me.

Lastly, I retied my headband around my left bicep, to make sure that it was secure and wouldn't fall off. I gazed up at the window and grinned at my reflection. I saw the outline of a boy, but that boy wore a Konoha headband, making him a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf.

I glanced around my room one last time before turning around and heading downstairs. I grabbed a few rations bars from Father's stash in the kitchen before I walked out the door. The whole time I kept a calm look on my face, but on the inside my stomach was buzzing from the butterflies inside it. I looked back at the rapidly fading view of the front door, which I wouldn't see for another month.

It only took me ten minutes to reach the main gate. Since I had a deadline I figured it would be best to hurry, even if I knew we would be waiting about another hour on Kakashi-sensei before we could leave.

I was the last one of my team to arrive, excluding Kakashi-sensei of course. Naruto and Sasuke both had a backpack like mine full of things that were needed for this excursion.

Tazuna the bridge builder was also there, but my two friends seemed to be pointedly ignoring him.

"Hey guys," I called out in greeting as I walked into their circle of conversation. When neither of them even spared me a glance I tried to hide the hurt from showing on my face. Where they ignoring me now too? What had I done? I wasn't used to not being greeted enthusiastically, Ino, or at least reluctantly, Shikamaru.

I shrugged it off as quickly as I could and tilted my head to the side slightly as I began to listen in on what they were saying.

"—two hours is my guess," Naruto said.

"No way," Sasuke argued, shaking his head vehemently in disagreement. "There's no way it's more than an hour."

"What's not more than an hour?" I wondered out loud in an attempt to butt in on the exchange.

Still they disregarded me.

"100 ryo?"

"Done."

"100 ryo for what?" I asked as they shook on whatever agreement they had come to.

Finally they took notice of me. "On how long it takes Kakashi-sensei to arrive today," Sasuke answered me with a smirk.

"Do you want in too?" said Naruto grinning broadly. I shook my head with a small smile. I knew I wouldn't win based on the already made bets, for as Naruto was asking my eyes had met up with the very person whose arrival time was being debated.

"I'd love to," he said, causing Naruto and Sasuke to violently spin around with their eyes wide. "Put me down for thirty seconds ago."

Sasuke's smirk grew into the wide grin that had quickly left Naruto's face at the voice of Kakashi-sensei. He reached out his hand to Naruto in a silent demand to pay up. Naruto pouted and reluctantly drew out his wallet and handed over the 100 ryo in question.

"Everyone ready? Good. Let's head out then," Kakashi-sensei said brightly. Immediately Naruto perked up. As soon as we had the gate at our backs he let out a yell of triumph. Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, and Tazuna looked at him with an air of displeasure, but in all honesty I felt like joining in.

Instead I kept a passive look on my face as we made our way along the well beaten path away from Konoha.

We walked in silence for what seemed like hours. The boredom of wordless travel was finally starting to set in as the high from finally leaving the village began to wear off.

The sun beat down on the open path, leaving us all sweating even with a lack of real exertion. Because we had a civilian with us, we had to keep a slow pace and stay on the roads. This prevented us from taking cover in the shady trees of the Land of Fire's forests.

As the time dragged on I wondered how far exactly it was to the wave country. I knew it would take a day at our regular pace, but at the rate we were going it would clearly take much longer. The land of waves I knew was an island known for its waves, obviously, and its whirlpools, which was a natural defense and the reason why they didn't utilize a shinobi force.

As the time dragged on I wondered how far exactly it was to the wave country. I knew it would take a day at our regular pace, but at the rate we were going it would clearly take much longer. The land of waves I knew was an island known for its waves, obviously, and its whirlpools, which was a natural defense and the reason why they didn't utilize a shinobi force.

" _There's bound to be a lot more water than there is here,_ " I thought as we passed a puddle off to the side of the trail.

All of a sudden I tensed. I could feel chakra signatures suddenly rising up behind us.

"Look out!" I yelled to my team as I quickly turned and jumped into my stance. But it wasn't soon enough. As we faced the enemy they caught Kakashi-sensei in their chains.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said in despair as we watched as our sensei was ripped to shreds before our eyes.

The first to react was Sasuke. As the two enemy ninja moved in he threw his kunai, pinning their chains to a tree. Before they could get free he followed up his attack, kicking the two of them away from us.

I stepped up to cover him, leaving Naruto to protect the bridge builder. The two ninja regained their footing and tried to outflank us. Sasuke and I retreated quickly. Our main task was protecting the bridge builder, so we couldn't allow them to get around us.

As they closed in I looked around wildly. My mind was completely blank, and it scared me. I had no plan, no idea what to do. Kakashi-sensei was already dead, and we had to defeat two ninja by ourselves.

As they rushed towards us I blindly lunged forward to meet them. The claws on their hands reached out to scratch me. I hesitated, and realized that I didn't have time to dodge. I raised my arms in a hopeless block. But the claws swung past me without even a touch. I realized as Sasuke let go of the back of my shirt that he had saved me.

Silently thanking my dark haired teammate I settled into my stance once more. But they were no longer in front of me. With a sinking feeling I looked back as the two unidentified ninja closed in on Naruto.

In desperation I reached out my shadow, catching them by surprise. Seeing that they were trapped, Naruto leapt forward. Summoning an army of clones, he dove upon them with the intent to finish them off.

But within a second the clones were torn to pieces. My eyes roved over the area, searching for what might have destroyed the clones. With nothing in sight, I looked back at where the enemy ninja were still trapped in my jutsu, and started in shock.

Where the two ninja should have been where just logs. The reason the clones had been disintegrated was now abundantly clear. The three of us circled around Tazuna, looking this way and that, searching for any sign of our attackers.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a glint of light. The reflection of the sun off of metal. I turned to counter the incoming strike. I didn't need to. Sasuke threw his shuriken at the chains, causing them to sail over us.

We stayed huddled up as our enemies moved closer. I shivered uncontrollably at the prospect of what was to come. Just like Kakashi-sensei, we might not return from this fight. Unconsciously I shifted closer to the group.

The two ninja jumped into the air and reeled in their chains. Again they cast them at us. Again Sasuke saved us in the nick of time.

They closed in, bringing the fight to us. I let loose a flurry of senbon aimed at their unprotected face and neck areas. But it did little to discourage their approach. I braced myself for the impact.

And all of a sudden they were no longer coming at us. I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked up at the masked face of Kakashi-sensei, who was holding both of the enemy ninja.

I sank down to my knees, shoulders shaking as my mind tried to process everything that had just happened. I barely noticed anything as Kakashi-sensei tied the two ninja to a tree and began questioning them.

I took several deep breaths to help calm myself. I looked up to see both of my teammates watching me worriedly. I met Sasuke's eyes, and read the silent question they were conveying. I shook my head slowly.

Hesitantly I got to my feet, taking a few moments to steady myself as the earth threatened to unbalance me. I wobbled slowly towards Sasuke and Naruto.

"Has Kakashi-sensei gotten anything out of them?" I asked with a soft and uncertain voice I could barely recognize.

Both of them shook their heads, and I sighed in disappointment.

"He does know that they are chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist," Naruto added after a moment's thought, "but they refuse to say anything about neither their employer nor their motive."

I frowned. "Does their employer really matter since we know they were sent by the Hidden Mist?" I asked, and felt a small swell of satisfaction that my voice had returned to normal.

"Dead last here forgot to say that they are missing nin," Sasuke said rolling his eyes and cuffing Naruto over the head. Naruto's shriek of indignation and predictable return punch was easily dodged. "Kakashi-sensei is going to ask what Tazuna knows once we get moving again," he continued as if there was never any interruption.

I nodded in understanding. It would only be natural that we question the bridge builder. Now that we had been attacked the mission was at least a B-rank mission, when only a C-rank mission had been issued.

I contemplated all the possibilities as we continued our walk, again in silence. The conversation didn't pick up for over an hour. During the break I had no doubt that Kakashi-sensei was also going over all the different reasons why this could have happened, and stockpiling all the questions that should be asked.

"Because we've elected to continue the mission, even though we could have just turned around, I expect full honesty from you," he said, pausing to make sure that Tazuna was in agreement. "I want to know who is after you, and why," he said simply.

I was a little surprised that all he asked were those two things, but then I reasoned that he could have figured out many others and not everything had to be known by a hired guard.

"I guess I have no reason to keep it from you now," said a downcast Tazuna. He dropped his eyes as he started his story, "The Land of Waves is a small place, and we get everything we have from the ocean, whether it's our income from fish markets or trade over boats, without that connection we have nothing. Recently, Gato has exploited our need of boats to traverse the waters to buy and sell resources by monopolizing it. Everything runs through him, and he's leaching off of our society. The Land of Waves is full of poverty, and we have no way out of it because we have to rely on Gato to ship everything to and from us."

"I assume you mean the Gato who runs the boating corporation?" interjected Kakashi-sensei.

Tazuna nodded, "Yes him. That's why I need to get safely home. My dream is to build a bridge so that we can break free of Gato's control. But obviously he wouldn't want that, which is why he sent those ninja to assassinate me. Without me, the bridge can't be built, so it's very important that you protect me while I build the bridge so that it can save the economy of the Land of Waves. It is also the reason why I only purchased a C-rank mission. It wasn't that I didn't know the dangers, just that I didn't have the money at my disposal. Like I said before, the Land of Waves is a poor country, and only by pooling our money together were we able to hire ninja at all."

What a sob story. It was so obviously told trying to win our help free of charge that I almost pitied the man who was trying so hard to gain our sympathy. Almost. I could see that Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei also weren't going to allow it to get to them, but Naruto was a sucker for those kinds of stories.

"Don't worry Mister Tazuna," Naruto said holding a fist in front of his body to emphasize his determination. "We will protect you with our lives, you can count on us."

I caught Sasuke's eye and we both looked away hurriedly so as not to burst out laughing. Naruto was a great friend, but he was ridiculously predictable.

I was still chuckling when I heard a great _whoosh_ and Kakashi-sensei's voice yelling, "Duck!" I threw myself on the ground and heard the other do the same.

Quickly pushing myself off the ground and getting to my feet, I looked up to see what kind of large projectile had been thrown. What I saw was a large and intimidating man with his feet resting on a giant sword.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly as dry as the desert sand in Suna.

"Stand back everybody. This time I'll take him down all by myself," I heard the confident voice of Naruto say.

"Don't be ridiculous. That's Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He's an elite jounin, master of the silent killing technique. You three stay back while I face him," said Kakashi-sensei.

"What about teamwork?" Sasuke asked in an innocent voice.

I snorted loudly in laughter. All eyes swung to me in surprise. "He's right, the three of us defeated you Kakashi-sensei, let us have a go," I said seriously, making an effort to pretend that no one had noticed the noise.

Zabuza snickered from up above on his sword. "You lost to three genin? And we had you in our bingo book Kakashi Hatake. Now I'm just embarrassed for you," he sneered down at us.

"Bingo book? What's that?" said Naruto, his face screwed up as he tried to imagine what it might be.

"It's the book where you write down all the people whose capture you'll pay for. Everyone in it is either very important or very strong," I replied, never taking my eyes off of the man in front of me. This time I wouldn't be caught off guard. This time I would have a plan, a counter for every move.

"Just leave this to us Kakashi-sensei," I muttered, keeping all my focus on Zabuza. "You guard the client."

"So now I'm 'the client', am I?" I heard a disgruntled Tazuna say in obvious complaint.

"Yes, yes you are," Sasuke said in my ear as he walked up beside me. "You have a plan yet?"

"For now it's just beat him before we die," I whispered back.

"Goodie, my favorite," said my teammate with a smirk. I smirked back before calling out the positions to my team. Naruto I moved onto the right flank where there was lots of open space. Sasuke I sent ahead of me so that we were forming a right triangle with me as the vertex.

" _Think Shikai, think._ " I told myself, trying to spark some sort of idea. " _Zabuza is better than all of us at everything, our only advantage is surprising him with techniques we shouldn't know yet, and using our larger numbers to overwhelm him._ "

"Naruto, use strategy distract Kakashi-sensei bell test, replacement style," I said, hoping that he would understand. He had the most chakra, and therefore was at the moment the person whose energy was most expendable.

"Sasuke, medium range quick strikes, I'll back you two up. No matter what, make sure you don't get locked into close range with him," I added after a seconds thought. My teammates nodded and started moving into position. In all of this time Zabuza hadn't moved a step, which made me uneasy.

Either he was overconfident, and didn't think he would need more than minimum effort to win, or something was off.

I felt around to see if it was merely a clone, but it really was him. Fine then, if he didn't think we were anything special, then we'd give him a full dose of our techniques. I reached into my weapons pouch and pulled out a single senbon. I carefully coated it in a fine layer of chakra, the preparation for a genjutsu.

I was still relatively new to genjutsu, and the only one I felt comfortable enough with to use a senbon to inflict it upon the victim was the sight genjutsu I used to make myself invisible to the target. But if making me invisible to his eyes even temporarily gave me a chance to take him out, or at least to get some damage in when he wasn't trying to defend himself, then it was worth it.

I watched as Naruto jumped forwards, throwing himself into a close quarters battle with someone who he was no match for. He threw a kunai and quickly replaced himself with a clone. The clone was immediately dispelled by Zabuza's sword, but it gave Sasuke a chance to throw his shuriken while the sword was occupied.

Zabuza was standing to the side of the tree as the hail of shuriken flew towards him. He dropped to the ground without a sound and moved towards Sasuke, who was now the closest. Sasuke held his ground, not willing to give an inch to this enemy ninja, no matter his strength.

As Zabuza raised his sword for a devastating blow I threw my single senbon. It sailed through the air and hit him in the neck. The pain barely registered with Zabuza as he continued his downward stroke. Sasuke tried to block with a kunai, but the power behind the stroke was too much. The sword deflected past and bit into Sasuke's right arm. He staggered back from the impact, a huge gash leaking spurts of blood through his navy blue sleeves.

I moved in closer, passing Sasuke's wide eyed look full of pain and astonishment. I inched up to Zabuza, hoping that he wouldn't somehow sense me. I plunged my hand into my weapons pouch and took out the one kunai I had. I pulled it back and sank it deep into his upper arm. Zabuza flung his arm away and I was thrown back by the force. I sat up gasping for air. I could see his eyes on me, and the despair of having the genjutsu last so short threatened to overwhelm me.

I battled for control of my emotions. I had to get back to my teammates. Sasuke's wound was much worse than mine was, and Naruto was separated from us by Zabuza. I scrambled up and half stumbling I made my way back to the battle at hand.

But I was too far away to do anything but watch as Zabuza raised his sword up for a finishing strike, one Sasuke couldn't hope to block or avoid.

His eyes bugged, his mouth wide open in a silent plea for help. Naruto and I both rushed forwards, but we were too far away. Down the sword came. Down onto our helpless teammate. Down until a hole was cleaved in the earth a foot deep.

Right where Sasuke's body had been before Kakashi-sensei intervened. I let out a shuddering breath I hadn't noticed I'd been holding. I grabbed a handful of senbon and flung them towards Zabuza. He dodged easily by jumping back, but it gave us time to regroup.

Naruto had circled around and taken over Kakashi-sensei's position guarding Tazuna. I knelt down next to my injured teammate and tore off his sleeve at the elbow. I pulled a bandage out of my backpack and wrapped it around his damaged arm.

"Sorry, I can't really do much more than that, but it should stop the bleeding," I told him, trying to keep my voice steady and reassuring. Sasuke's face was pale and clammy looking. He had lost a lot of blood and needed medical treatment soon.

"Now do you see why I told you to stand back," said Kakashi-sensei. A sudden chill came over me and my breathing hitched. I had never seen or heard Kakashi-sensei sound so serious. I recalled how initially I thought that Zabuza wasn't even taking us seriously.

Without a word I helped Sasuke to his feet and we made our way back to where Naruto and Tazuna were waiting away from the fight.

I turned back just as Kakashi-sensei adjusted his headband so that it was no longer covering his left eye.

"Oh ho," I heard Zabuza exclaim in mock gratitude. "It looks like I'm receiving the honor of seeing the famous sharingan of Konoha's Copy Nin right off the bat. To be honest, I'm quite flattered."

The sharingan, that was something that was often spoken of in the books of legend that I had read, but it had never been described, only spoken of in admiration. The only thing I knew about it was that it was a characteristic of the Uchiha clan. I slid a sideways glance at Sasuke, but his shock filled eyes were firmly on Kakashi-sensei.

My gaze wandered to where Zabuza was standing, just as he looked over at us with demonic grin. A wall of blood lust crashed into us so strongly that I staggered. The absolute terror it inspired causing me to freeze. There was nothing I could do. Nothing anyone could do. Zabuza was unstoppable, and he was going to kill us no matter what we did.

The despair was almost worse than the fear itself. The feeling that no matter what all the people you cared about were going to die, right here, right now.

My eyes were locked onto the scene before me. Then Kakashi-sensei turned around, and I saw the glint of his left eye. The redness of it. The redness. It expanded, reminding me of a dream long passed. Of death. Death everywhere. The red kept coming. Covering everything until it was all that I could see, all that I could feel. An overwhelming amount. All red. And then the black. The little black flecks, growing larger and larger, until everything was black.

The unconsciousness was blissful, for the red was gone.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is out late, it was my grandparent's 50** **th** **wedding anniversary on Saturday, so I put that before finishing up this chapter.**

 **I realized that I had never written down Shikai's physical description, so I put down a few things in here for y'all. Hopefully it's not too different from what you had in mind. Everyone else will look pretty much the same as canon Naruto, at this point I don't think there's anything I want to change about it.**

 **Guys guys guys! I decided what Shikai's pairing is gonna be. Some of you are probably going to want to kill me afterwards, but it's perfect for how I want the story to go. I just hope I don't mess up the writing so that I can make it really perfect, because in my mind it's great but conveying it…we'll see. There's only one other I've decided upon, because it ties into Shikai's. Anyways I'm really excited about the idea if you couldn't tell. Hints dropping will definitely have to appear somewhere.**

 **This chapter was honestly a little rough with the word count, so sorry about that. I wanted to get the cliff hanger at the end but wasn't really sure how to do it and still have a reasonable chapter size, hopefully it works well.**

 **Answer:** _Dogs for the win!_

 **Question:** _Favorite kind of weather?_

* * *

TBC


	9. Chapter 8: Unnecessary Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and to be honest I'm running out of things to say about it.

 **InfectedElite:** I'm not at liberty to say….

 **erinlyon9:** The lack of descriptions was really bothering me, so I'm glad you liked that I put them in there. Can't comment on why he had the dream or why Kakashi didn't stop them, but it will be explained shortly so don't worry. Haha thanks for letting me off the hook, means a lot to me, but in all seriousness I think you're going to like how I worked it in. Yes that review was absolutely perfect. Because you put so much into it I can take a lot from it and see how to make the story better.

 **Chapter 8: Unnecessary Death**

* * *

A dull, aching pain in my head was my first observation. As my senses returned to me, I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark room. I was lying on a cot covered in moth-eaten blankets, a small table on one side of me in what otherwise was a bare room. My few possessions I could see in a pile by the door.

I slowly rose as I continued to gather my thoughts. I shifted through the memories of what I assumed must have been earlier today, judging by the room's darkness.

The fight with Zabuza! My face paled as I thought of how quickly that could have turned out badly, and I was shocked that I had forgotten it if only for an instant. I went over what had happened, how he had easily warded off the combination of all three of us without batting an eye. Even by using my best move I was only able to slightly wound him, something that didn't slow him down in the slightest.

My stomach rumbled loudly, bringing me back to reality. For the first time since waking up I realized how hungry I was. With my hand resting on the doorknob, I hesitated. Even though I had slept here peacefully, it wouldn't do to be unprepared. Making up my mind I strapped on my arm guards and weapons pouch.

I slipped out of the door and down the hall. It opened up into a brightly lit kitchen, and I stood still, squinting out of one eye as I grew used to the sudden light. I had been wrong in my assumption; it was well into the day. There was no one in the kitchen, so I softly crept over to the fridge. I took an apple and headed outside to find my team.

But they weren't outside either. I looked around thoughtfully. The house I had just exited was on the coast, and there was a forest in front of me. Over the tops of the trees I could see the rising smoke of a nearby village. It was as good a place to start looking as any, so with my apple in hand I started walking over.

It didn't take long before I heard a yell off in the distance. I grinned and changed course, angling myself towards where the sound had come from.

When I arrived I found Sasuke and Naruto both sitting on the ground, panting for lack of breath. They were clearly doing some kind of training, but they had no wounds on them to signal battle training. I screwed my face up in thought. Kakashi-sensei wasn't here, which meant he had to be with the bridge builder.

"What are you doing?" I said, my voice carrying across the small clearing to where the two were sitting. Both boys jumped up and spun around, surprise written all over their faces.

Naruto was the first to react, a beaming smile spreading across his face. "You're awake! We were getting worried, it's been two days since the fight with Zabuza," he said.

My jaw dropped several inches. I had been out for two days? Was I really that fragile? I tried to smile back, but all happened was my mouth formed an ugly grimace. Naruto's smile wavered slightly as he eyed my pained expression. He opened his mouth, and I braced myself for the onslaught of questions about how I was feeling.

"We are tree climbing," Sasuke interjected smoothly. My eyes jumped to his face, and his cool black eyes stared back at me. I gave him a grateful look and quickly pushed the conversation towards training and farther away from my health.

"Oh that. Father made me and Shikamaru tree climb back when Shikamaru first started the academy, so that we could learn our clan jutsu," I said.

Naruto made a face at me and turned back to his tree. He picked up the kunai that had been resting on the ground during our brief interaction. With a running head start he sprinted up the tree, making it about ten feet before slashing the kunai through the bark and jumping off and back down to the ground.

I smirked as I watched Naruto grumble, and then turned back to Sasuke.

"Kakashi-sensei is at the bridge with Tazuna," said Sasuke, answering my question before I could even ask it. "It's right by the village, on the side closest to the house we're staying at." I muttered a quick 'thanks' and then bounded off to go find the leader of Team 7.

Once again the sound clued me in to my desired location. The loud voices of workers and the occasional swear when someone dropped something on their toes was hard to miss, but even the magnitude of them wasn't enough to prepare me for the size of the bridge being built.

My eyes widened as I took in the magnificent scene before me. The bridge was absolutely enormous, and there were hundreds of people working on it. I peered out over the ocean, and could barely see the strip of land on the other side where the bridge would end. If it was completed, is would surely be an architectural feat worth seeing.

I made my way through the body of workers, searching for the silver hair or green shinobi vest of my sensei. I found him near the end of the bridge, where it was still incomplete. He was standing off to the side, casually observing a group of three men who were poring over a piece of paper. One man seemed rather angry, and kept pointing at the paper while screaming his point. The other two were standing still, patiently taking it in, although from experience I could tell their annoyance with the first man was growing. They both had their fists clinched and the man in the middle's eyebrow was twitching. With a start I realized that he was in fact the bridge builder we had been assigned to protect.

I tiptoed around the group of three as softly as I could, my eyes staying on them the whole time. I didn't want Tazuna to notice me, for I was sure that things were not going to be pretty for much longer.

With a small sigh of relief I made it to Kakashi-sensei. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blade slashing towards me and I instinctively dropped to the floor, rolling and coming up on one knee with a handful of senbon in my right hand, my left on the ground keeping me balanced.

My eyes met a wild one belonging to my sensei, and we both dropped our weapons sheepishly as we immediately understood what had occurred. I shook my head with a small smile, to think that I could have scared Kakashi-sensei by sneaking up on him.

"Perhaps we ought to work on your stealth a bit more," Kakashi-sensei said. I frowned up at him. I was the support on our team, everyone knew it. Also I acted as the general of the three genin, standing behind the lines getting an overview and sending instructions after dissecting everything going on around me.

I looked back up at him, but he raised his hand to stall the question forming on my lips. "This isn't going to change anything for the time being, but it will be nice to have the option in the future," he said, calmly presenting his opinion.

It made sense to have as much experience in as many fields as possible, so I nodded to show him that I understood, and then we dutifully returned our gazes to the unfolding argument between the three older men before us.

The loud, irate voices carried across the bridge, and soon all were aware of each of the three's standpoint. They were getting more than a few nervous looks, which turned to outright staring as one of the men, the angry man I had noticed before, stormed off. It seemed he thought that continuing the bridge was suicide, for no one had a chance of standing up to Gato.

Kakashi-sensei and I exchanged amused looks. After the excitement was over, he quickly returned to his favorite book, and I was left with his advice to keep me company. I decided I might as well get some practice in just like my teammates, but I was hesitant to do so. They were the only two other shinobi around, besides Kakashi-sensei, so I couldn't do much without interrupting whatever work they might be doing.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Zabuza escaped with the help of another ninja. As soon as he's healed, they will pay us a visit," Kakashi-sensei said. I froze. I could feel my sensei's single uncovered eye burning into the back of my head, looking for any sort of reaction.

I brushed it off as quickly as possible and leapt away into the trees. I didn't have the time to sit around and worry about disturbing their training. We had to improve, and fast.

* * *

"If I'm right then they will attack late tomorrow morning, around ten or eleven," said Kakashi-sensei after dinner several days later. The house we were staying at belonged to Tazuna, and his daughter and her son lived there with him. We were currently gathered in the upstairs bedroom that had been given to me, Sasuke, and Naruto to stay in while we were in the Land of Waves.

We were each sitting on our own cot, except for Kakashi-sensei who was perched on the windowsill that looked out over the open ocean and empty evening sky, lit up by the fading rays of the sun.

"I will take on Zabuza alone. This time there will be no negotiations. I hope now you've learned that fresh genin, even three at a time, are no match for an experienced jounin," I hung my head in shame. The words might have been directed at the three of us as a whole, but to me they were a slap in the face. I prided myself in being the calm, levelheaded one on the team. I had drastically miscalculated, and had almost gotten the entire team killed because of it.

"You three can work out between yourselves who takes on the other ninja, but someone must be with Tazuna at all times," said Kakashi-sensei. He gave me a sympathetic look as he ghosted past, and without making a sound exited the room.

I glanced round at my teammates. Naruto's face was pale but determined, and Sasuke's was set in stone. I gave them a quick smile before jumping under the blankets of my cot and rolling over, already fast asleep before they had a chance to move.

When I woke up, the sun was just starting to rise. I quietly rose to my feet and tiptoed over to my back pack. I changed hurriedly and tiptoed to the door, trying not to wake the others. I slowly pulled the door open, and winced at the agonizing creak it made. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that Sasuke was now propped up on his elbows.

I jerked my head in the direction of the hallway, and made my way out of the room and down to the kitchen on the first floor. I grabbed a ration bar from the bag Kakashi-sensei had left for us in the corner. I tore open the wrapper and held it in my mouth while I pulled on my arm guards. I took a quick bite, chewed, swallowed, and held it in my mouth once more as I attached my weapons pouch.

I pushed open the door and started walking towards the bridge. As I walked I looked back on what we had done the last few days. Naruto and Sasuke had figured out how to climb trees, and I'd even taught them water walking. They still had a hard time when it came to fighting on water, but they had come a long way with their chakra control. I had taken the time to work on my genjutsu, even though Kakashi-sensei had been against it. He told me that it would never work a second time against Zabuza, and that the only reason it had worked once was because there is such a small percentage of genjutsu users, and an even smaller percentage of genin who use genjutsu, and much less who can use it competently. I suppose that I could have taken it as a complement, but instead I used it to fuel the desire to train and get stronger, a feeling that was quite foreign to me. I also worked on my stealth, and while I still wasn't as fast as the others, I could consistently sneak past them without it ever resorting to a foot race.

Kakashi-sensei hadn't spent much time with us, instead opting to take most of the shifts guarding Tazuna. Occasionally he would ask one of us to fill in for him so that he could check in on our training, but those times became rarer and rarer as it became evident that we could both take care of ourselves for an extended period of time and were making good progress in our training.

I heard the light sound of footsteps steadily growing louder behind me. When Sasuke caught up and slowed down to my pace I didn't even bat an eye, instead opting to continue walking as if he had been there the whole time.

"If I was an enemy you would be dead by now," Sasuke said drily, his mouth forming a smirk.

"If you were an enemy I would hope that you wouldn't make that much noise coming up behind me, that you would disguise your chakra signature, and that you would actually plan something out instead of just chasing after me from behind," I said back in a snippy tone.

The smirk melted off his face leaving behind a disgruntled look. We walked in silence for several minutes before he said anything in reply. "You're not as fun to mess with as Naruto is," Sasuke muttered.

I let it slide. Half of the reason Naruto always got picked on by Sasuke was just because he would always give a hilarious reaction. Sadly, Naruto still hadn't realized this, and kept on with his dramatic proclamations and petty 'rivalry' with Sasuke.

I let out a deep sigh. I could feel Sasuke's questioning gaze fall on me, but I wasn't in the mood for talking. " _Why am I on the dysfunctional team?_ " I thought to myself.

We didn't speak again for the rest of the walk to the bridge. As it came into view we quickened our pace. Clouds were forming overhead, creating a greyish sky and adding a haze to the air. It was the perfect weather for Zabuza to launch a surprise attack.

I jumped up onto the bridge, searching around for Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna. I followed the bridge over the water towards the end, where it dropped off, and where the bulk of the work was being done. Because it was where the work was focused, I was sure that I would find them there.

I quickened my pace. Because of the natural mist I was convinced that Zabuza would launch his attack earlier than Kakashi-sensei had anticipated, and I wanted to reach them before Zabuza did. Sasuke's hand grabbed my shoulder and I looked in the direction in which his other hand was pointing.

I peered out into the frosty morning air in the direction he had indicated. Just outlined in the mist was the bridge builder we were looking for, so we made our way over to where Tazuna was sitting on an ice chest. Satisfaction flitted across my face for when we approached him I could make out the form of Kakashi-sensei standing behind him.

"Sasuke and I are here. Naruto is currently still at the house. When we left he was still sleeping," I said to my sensei, and then ran through a short report on what had happened after he had disappeared with Tazuna.

Just after I finished Kakashi-sensei held a finger to his lips. He didn't outwardly appear to move, but I could see his eyes darting back and forth. I felt Sasuke tense beside me. Quickly reaching out with my chakra, I checked to see if there was anyone there.

With a sinking feeling I felt nothing, for all of the air around me was now laced with chakra. I could barely see a couple of feet in front of me. Kakashi-sensei was no more than a dark outline in the heavy grey mist.

I backed up towards Tazuna. Our job was to protect him at all costs. I pulled Sasuke along with me, back to the bridge builder who was still sitting atop his ice chest.

I tried once more to reach out my chakra. Perspiration dripped down my face as I tried to push past the tightening grey cloak. With a downcast expression and an air of defeat I gave it up. As long as Zabuza's mist was in play my sensing and long range attacks were virtually useless.

I glanced at Sasuke. He was calmly staring off into the mist. Set in his stance, he looked ready for anything, a sharp contrast to my clammy hands and unsteady, nervous breathing. For the first time I could say that I understood why Ino thought so much of him. He was the perfect image of a soldier: strong, silent, and ready for anything that might come.

Taking heart in my teammate's strength, I took a deep breath. I exhaled and took another. Now it was time for battle. The new found courage in my heart lit a smoldering fire in my eyes. I pulled out several senbon in each hand. My genjutsu might be useless in this fight, but if it came to it then taijutsu and long metal toothpicks would have to do.

All of a sudden I heard a howl of rage and pain. I watched in astonishment as the mist began to clear until nothing was left. Even the haze I had noticed when we first arrived on the bridge was gone.

Without my vision obscured, my eyes fell on Zabuza, who had managed to almost reach us. My eyes widened when I saw the small dog whose jaws were fastened upon Zabuza's upper arm.

"You're mine," came the cry of Kakashi-sensei, slightly muffled due to the mask covering his mouth. Lightning sprung up around his fist. In an instant he was behind Zabuza. I leaned forward in fascination as he reached out his hand.

The fist targeting Zabuza's upper back was met with a wall of ice. Zabuza leapt away to stand next to another ninja wearing the mask of a hunter nin. No one moved as each side measured up the other.

"I'll take the new guy," Sasuke said looking over at me. I nodded to show I understood and prepared to cover my two teammates on the front lines.

Kakashi-sensei made the first move. He leapt forwards, flinging kunai towards the two enemy ninja causing them to separate. Sasuke jumped towards the fake hunter nin while Kakashi-sensei closed in on Zabuza.

I watched in amazement at the incredible back and forth battle of taijutsu combined with blades that was the fight of Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei. Zabuza took a horizontal swing. Kakashi-sensei leapt over the blade. In midair he called dragons made of water to attack Zabuza from the sea, but Zabuza countered with his own.

My eyes leapt over to Sasuke's fight. His opponent was shooting senbon at him while covering the bridge in ice. Sasuke was clearly on the defensive. Each time he tried to close in a stream of senbon forced him to step back. He couldn't even try to outmaneuver the enemy because of the slick ice beneath him.

In horror I saw a dome of ice rise up and cover Sasuke. Through the gaps I saw him pelted with senbon. He spun around again and again like he couldn't find his target. Again he was hit. He fell to his knees. Hands held up in front of his face to ward off the inevitable attack.

With my heart pounding in my chest I looked back at Kakashi-sensei. Zabuza was backing away again. Kakashi-sensei flung his kunai at him. Zabuza dodged to the side. But Kakashi-sensei was ready for it. He leapt forwards. Electricity flowed from his hand once more.

I tore my eyes away and looked back at Sasuke. He was down on one knee, hands planted in front of him. His head drooped in defeat. As I watched another storm of senbon rain down, I made up my mind.

Without a second thought I took off towards the ice dome. As I passed through one of the gates on the side I flung my senbon in every direction. It wasn't much of an attack, but it bought me time to reach Sasuke.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I asked, despair creeping into my voice. I looked at the many puncture wounds on Sasuke's body. There were thousands of senbon sticking out of his skin like porcupine quills. I wasn't a medic. I didn't even have supplies on me. All I could do was defend him.

My eyes darted back and forth, searching for the ninja with the expressionless mask. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black shape pass by. I turned to meet it. But it was already gone.

A searing pain spread from my back throughout my body. I doubled over gasping. How had Sasuke taken so many of these attacks and kept going?

I slowly straightened up and turned around to face the hunter nin. Once again he was gone. I clenched my fists in frustration. I couldn't let the fight keep going like this if I wanted to win.

"The hero always comes to the rescue at the last second, and here I am," a loud voice exclaimed from behind me. I groaned as my heart sank. Now that Naruto was here all three of us were stuck in this snow globe of death.

But if he was here he might as well be useful. "Naruto, create a wall of clones to protect us from his attacks. He uses senbon and ice," I said quickly. I didn't want to get hit by another one of his attacks if I could help it. Just one hit was incredible painful.

"I can see him," said Sasuke in a raspy, exhausted voice. "I can see him," he repeated in a stronger and more convincing tone. I looked down at him in alarm. Then I saw his eyes. The burning red and black flecks of the sharingan. I was cast back to a dream years past. I remembered the destruction, the death. It threatened to overwhelm me, like it had just days before.

I teetered on unsteady legs. My mind desperately tried to hang on to consciousness. I had to protect my friends. I couldn't fail them now. Not after everything that they had done for me. I still had my debts to repay.

With a tremendous effort I threw off the weight of the vision. I tore my eyes away from Sasuke's. I turned back to the mirrors. I didn't know how we could defeat him, but I knew how we could escape.

"Sasuke do you think you could hit him with my senbon?" I said in an even tone. I didn't want to alert them to the mental struggle I had just overcome.

Sasuke pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand. "Of course, I'm guessing you have something in mind?" he said, his voice shaking slightly. I nodded curtly. Pulling six senbon out of my bag I coated them in chakra, the same genjutsu I had used on Zabuza to make me invisible to him. Except this time it would extend to Naruto and Sasuke.

I handed the senbon to Sasuke, and warned him not to stab himself. I turned back to the mirrors and prepared to defend Sasuke should anything break through the wall of Naruto clones.

The clones were doing a good job of protecting us. Over half of their ranks were gone, but the remaining ones were each deflecting senbon with their kunai and using smoke bombs to hide their movements.

I grabbed a smoke bomb that I'd borrowed from Naruto and prepared to throw it at my feet. I looked over my shoulder at Sasuke. He was looking from side to side, brow furrowed in concentration.

Suddenly he let the senbon fly. I cry of pain came from the direction in which he had thrown them, meaning at least one had hit their mark. I threw down the smoke bomb and grabbed Sasuke's and Naruto's hands, pulling them towards a hole in the dome of mirrors.

Each of us was breathing hard when we finally stopped running. Sasuke dropped to the ground while I bent over and put my hands on my knees. Naruto kept lookout while Sasuke and I regained our breath.

I looked back towards the dome, but there was still no sign of the masked nin. I glanced around, searching for any sign of Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza.

I didn't see them anywhere, but yells and other sounds of fighting could be heard back by the end of the bridge. I motioned for the other two to follow me. We snuck along the edge of the bridge towards where the sounds were coming from.

The two came into view after we rounded a large stack of wooden planks. Kakashi-sensei clearly had the upper hand. Zabuza had more wounds and was moving around at a much slower pace. We weren't even able to help before Kakashi-sensei got behind Zabuza and charged up electricity in his fist.

It almost seemed to happen in slow motion. Kakashi-sensei pulled back his arm. Zabuza tried to turn in time as the fist full of lightning came forward. It connected with flesh, and blood spurted everywhere. An inhuman scream ripped through the air. The mask fell off to reveal the dying face of a boy hardly older than we were.

I looked at Zabuza. His face was full of shock and rage. An evil glint had entered his eye. He lifted his sword and prepared to cleave in half Kakashi-sensei, whose hand was still stuck through the chest of the enemy.

And then Zabuza stopped. His eyes filled with disgust and he sneered at something or someone behind us.

Sasuke, Naruto, and I spun around to look at whatever it was that had distracted him. Standing ten feet away, with an army of thugs at his back, was Gato.

I immediately felt a bubbling of hate in my stomach. There was only one reason why Gato would bring this many armed men to where his ninja were fighting. The one thing I hated the most was backstabbers, and this treachery of Gato's left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Well haven't you made a mess of things here Zabuza," said Gato in a silky smooth tone. "It's a good thing I never planned to pay you. If I had then it looks like you would have failed me and allowed Tazuna to escape."

Zabuza drew back his sword and moved to stand next to Kakashi-sensei, who had also turned to look at what was unfolding before us. "It looks like my argument is not with you. Pardon me while I deal with this scum," said Zabuza, the uncontrolled anger seeping out into the air. It was the same deadly killer intent we had felt when we fought him before, only this time it was not directed at us.

Zabuza calmly walked towards the group of close to a hundred men. Instinctively I pulled out as many senbon as I could hold and coated them in my genjutsu. I threw them at the thugs, lowering the number who could see Zabuza and would therefore be able to do him harm during his assault.

However, it turned out to be a wasted effort. Five seconds later he was standing in front of Gato, his sword wet with blood from the army that had all died in an instant. Gato was shivering in fear, begging for mercy. But he was pleading with the wrong man.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened," Zabuza said after finishing off his former employer. "I'll leave you in peace now. There shouldn't be anyone else coming after you with Gato dead."

Kakashi-sensei dipped his head in gratitude, and after exchanging awkward goodbyes, Zabuza walked off into the forest with the limp body of the hunter nin cradled in his arms.

* * *

"The only reason I let you fight Zabuza before was so that you would learn that you are not invincible. Each of you is extremely talented, but you cannot be reckless. Fighting an elite jounin at your level would have been suicide if I wasn't there to rescue you," berated Kakashi-sensei. He kept his voice controlled and distant, which made me wish he was yelling. The feeling of having failed him was worse than if he had just gotten mad at us.

We had finished up the mission and had arrived back in the Hidden Leaf Village. The rest of the mission had been quiet, which gave us time to work on what we felt wasn't up to par. The battle with Zabuza and the fake hunter nin had been an eye opener in more ways than one. The sense of mortality had never felt so real, and I had never really considered how much this awkward, bedraggled team meant to me.

Kakashi-sensei had brought us back to the training ground as soon as we were cleared by the hospital to resume ninja activities. After every mission outside of the village leaf ninja are required to get cleared by the hospital before they can take another mission. Fresh genin aren't very important, so we kept getting pushed back farther and farther. It took almost a full week for us to be cleared, something that I was thankful for because it meant I could just relax at home with no responsibilities.

We were currently standing beside a memorial while Kakashi-sensei paced back and forth. On the outside I had a straight face, but on the inside I was grinning broadly at how agitated Kakashi-sensei was acting. It was rare that he ever appeared fazed by anything.

Kakashi-sensei stopped abruptly and turned to face us. "Do you three know what this is?" he asked cautiously, gesturing to the memorial. We each shook our heads. "This memorial has the names of Leaf heroes inscribed on it. Everyone who dies for the village," he continued sadly. "The names of my best friends are on this stone, and I don't want your names to join them. Especially not for some stupid reason like thinking you can defeat Zabuza."

"Aww, why not? I want to be a village hero too," Naruto said indignantly. All of us stared at him.

"It's not that kind of hero, Naruto," I said gently. "Everyone on this stone died fighting for the village. They were all killed in action."

"Oh," said Naruto. His head drooped to his chest and he stared hard at the ground.

"I don't want to lose you three like I did my friends," muttered Kakashi-sensei, his voice no more than a whisper.

I shifted awkwardly and scuffed the ground with my feet. I didn't know what to say after that. Instead I thought back on a day during the last week of our stay in the Land of Waves. It was sunny without a cloud in the sky, and Kakashi-sensei had decided to give us stealth training. After we had ventured out farther in the woods than we normally went, I heard Naruto cry out in alarm. We all gathered together and looked at what he had found. There was a newly dug grave, and the headstone read 'Haku, a brave and loyal friend.' In front of the grave, looking right at the words carved with an unsteady hand, was the body of our former enemy, run through with his own sword. I blinked rapidly as I remembered it. It was so peaceful, yet heart wrenching at the same time when I thought about the pain we had caused him by killing his friend. I tore my mind away from the past and wiped my eyes as Kakashi-sensei began to speak again.

"I've decided to enter you three into the Chunin Exams. You have each shown good judgment and the ability to excel. If you want to participate then go to the academy a week from tomorrow," said our sensei.

I nearly jumped for joy. Naruto actually did. I grinned at my two teammates, and they both smiled back.

Naruto pumped his fist and yelled at the top of his lungs, "WE ARE GOING TO THE CHUNIN EXAMS!"

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm so sorry this is a week late. I went on a college tour and I thought I'd be able to edit it and put it out last Sunday just like always but I didn't get a chance then or any day last week. So just think of this as a delayed chapter, there will still be one next week. Or is it this week now? I don't know. Anyway there's going to be chapters two weekends in a row now. Sorry again. :(**

 **The Chunin Exams will start next chapter, which is something I've been really looking forward to. It was probably my favorite arc up to where I've gotten in the series. I'm moving very slowly right now, so hopefully my story doesn't catch up before I finish it, I don't want to run out of material.**

 **I hope the battle wasn't too bad. I had a hard time getting into it, it just seemed really awkward. I think it came together decently though, not great of course but decent. The ones after this will sound a lot better because I think I'm far enough in now where Shikai being a part of the world will start to have more of an impact on canon Naruto.**

 **Answer:** _I love thunderstorms. The clouds obscure the sky, making everything dark. The pitter patter of the rain and the boom of thunder creates a great backdrop for siting under the covers of my bed and reading._

 **Question:** _I'm already running out of ideas for this. Umm, let's think. Favorite class from school? Elementary, high school, college, university, doesn't matter which. No 'nap time' or 'reading' though, real classes._

* * *

TBC


	10. Chapter 9: Mind Games

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did it would probably be way more epic and have way more corny jokes.

 **erinlyon9:** I figured someone would bring that up. The way I saw it is that Zabuza actually valued Haku a lot, he just couldn't show it because he wanted to keep up his image as the Demon of the Hidden Mist. The combination of Naruto and the fact that he knew he probably wouldn't make it out of that fight alive is what I think broke down the façade he had in place to prevent his true feelings from getting through.

 **LetsSeeIfICanDoThisToo:** I agree, it does seem way too early. But they were entered into the canon Chunin Exams early too in my opinion. The time from when they graduated to when the Exams start is the same, so I think it should feel rushed. There's a reason why Team Guy waited a full year before entering, even though they were likely the strongest team from their year. As for the rest I hope you can bear with me for now. I'm still learning and as this is my first story there will probably be lots of things I can do better, and it's my goal that by the end everyone will be happy and satisfied with it.

 **Chapter 9: Mind Games**

* * *

"When is Shikamaru getting back?" I asked for what must have been the hundredth time. The answer that I already knew was steadily growing closer.

"Sometime this evening honey, now why don't you go outside and feed the deer," my Mother said, completely ignoring the indignant look on my face.

With a sigh I headed out to fulfill my marching orders giving to me by the family general. Despite my resistance, feeding the deer gave me plenty of time to think without distraction, which was something I always appreciated. I was anxious for Shikamaru to get back from his first C-rank mission so that I could tell him about my own.

I also wanted to strategize with him for the Chunin Exams, but the wait was killing me. I sunk slowly to the ground, my back to a tree. I set the large bag of deer feed to one side and kicked my feet out. Since we had returned from our mission to the Land of Waves I hadn't had much time to myself. Either Mother was fussing over me and how much danger I'd been in, or we were training for the upcoming Chunin Exams.

So far Kakashi-sensei had made us focus on stealth and taijutsu, two things that are apparently very important in the Exams. The stealth training had been particularly interesting. I had already done quite a bit of it in the Land of Waves, and therefore had a head start on the other two. Add that to the fact that compared to Naruto and Sasuke I was incredibly sneaky already, and I was leagues above them.

We had taken to playing games of hide and seek, except in teams of two where both teams hide and seek at the same time, and we had to 'tag' each other with blunted kunai dipped in red paint. However the tag didn't count if we didn't sneak up on the other person, something that got a grumble out of Naruto when it was explained.

I grinned at the memory. Even if we were on a time sensitive schedule, being able to take breaks from D-ranks to play hide and seek was the best thing ever. Especially since I had Sasuke on my team, and going against Naruto in a stealth competition almost always guaranteed us a victory.

A quiet clopping sound accompanied by the snap of breaking twigs caused me to look up, straight into the eyes of a large buck. He dropped his gaze and looked pointedly at the bag of food. I smirked slightly and unsealed the bag. I pulled out a handful of feed and held it out to him with a flat palm. He looked at me distrustingly, before apparently deciding that the food was worth whatever I might do to him. His lips rasped at my hand as attacked the feed.

Once his stomach was satisfied, he trotted off into the trees, leaving me alone once more. I pushed myself to my feet, and dusted myself off. It would still be some hours before I could exchange stories with Shikamaru, until then I might as well get my chores done. I picked up the bag of feed and continued making my rounds.

It took a little over an hour to feed the whole herd, which left most of the day for me to find some way to entertain myself. Around noon Team 7 was scheduled to get together at our training field, but as I also had some time to spare before that I decided to head to the library.

I hadn't been to the library in quite some time, since before I spontaneously became a genin to be exact. Now that I was a ninja I had access to the genin section of the library, which dealt a lot more in ninja affairs, politics, and abilities than the basics of the civilian section. It was rather exciting to contemplate all the new things I could learn, so as soon as I managed to wriggle out of my Mother's clutches I headed over.

I completely ignored the first floor, where I had already read everything interesting, and proceeded to the second floor where all of the ninja documents were. I decided that at first I would research the Chunin Exams, since that was what we were currently preparing for.

I grabbed four large books that looked promising: two about the history of Konohagakure, one about the relationship between the elemental nations, and the last one was about chunin themselves, what they did and how to become one. There was an open chair in the corner of the room, so I claimed it and settled in for several hours of reading.

I started with the book on chunin, for it had 'How to be Promoted to Chunin' in the table of contents. I flipped to the page number 53 and started reading.

 _To become a chunin one must show the leadership and skill necessary to succeed in more difficult missions and be able to lead a mission of his/her own. The two most common ways to be promoted to chunin are either through the Chunin Exams or a field promotion. The Chunin Exams are a set of trials for chunin candidates from all villages designed and refereed by the host village. It is highly competitive and attracts all of the best genin from each village in order to show off their abilities, both to their own village and to everyone watching who might see and decide that because of their performance they want to take their business to that village. The other way, the field promotion, is up to either the village leader or someone above the candidate who has a high enough rank and reason enough to warrant the promotion. Unlike the Chunin Exams, the field promotion isn't dictated by what everyone else does, and therefore is much easier to attain. The downside and the explanation for why so many try to be promoted via the Chunin Exams is that a field promotion is much less glamorous, and takes much longer to achieve._

The text droned on and on, circumventing and reanalyzing the points previously brought up. With a sigh I looked up at the clock. I let out a small groan. It had only been ten minutes since I arrived. I cringed at how dull this information gathering quest I was on would prove, but steeled my nerves and continued.

I finally finished scouring through the four books for any data on the Chunin Exams with only fifteen minutes to spare before I was supposed to meet up with the rest of the team. I replaced the books on the shelves where I had found them and headed out of the library.

On the walk over to the training ground I went over the small amount of useful information I'd actually gathered. The Chunin Exams always had three trials, and the last was almost always one on one combat, something that was noted in particular because it was open to the public.

The other two tasks were slightly different every time, but often there was some sort of individual test followed by a team one. Even though I hadn't found anything else truly useful, what I had read had boosted my confidence, for it seemed as though the way Team 7 was set up we would have a good shot at doing well in the Exams, perhaps even making it to the third trial in front of the audience of the Kages.

I arrived at the training ground to find my two teammates waiting for me. I grinned at them and pulled out my notepad. Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be here for at least another hour, and since I knew that it would happen I had prepared for all the times we would be without a teacher by grilling him and Father for everything we should learn in the week we had to train.

"Today we are going to work on taijutsu until Kakashi-sensei arrives," I said as I read off of the pad of paper. "We'll start by going 1 vs1 vs 1, and then take a short break and then have one on one matches until Kakashi-sensei arrives."

My teammates nodded and we all backed away from each other to create space. Without the need to have someone yell go, our battle royale began.

I closed the distance slowly, letting Naruto and Sasuke make the first moves. I was more of a defensive fighter than the other two were, leaving me open if I starting swinging freely right out of the gate.

Naruto went right for Sasuke, jumping at him and swinging a fist. Sasuke ducked under and backhanded him as he flew past, causing Naruto to lose his balance and go crashing into the ground.

Sasuke turned to me, mouth set in a determined line. I licked my lips nervously. Sasuke was much harder to avoid than Naruto. He didn't rush his moves, and he was much more well-rounded.

Sasuke leaned forwards, his fist coming across and I jumped to the left to avoid it. Just as I landed his leg came out of nowhere and took my feet out from under me. I groaned as my shoulder hit the rock-solid ground.

I rolled over and jumped back to my feet. Frustration from not anticipating the feint fueled my adrenaline rush. Naruto was back up and had engaged Sasuke in a pound fest.

Sasuke broke away and suddenly it was just me and Naruto alone in the middle of the field. I dropped into a defensive stance as Naruto came at me with a gleeful glint in his eyes.

I jumped back as he punched. I backpedaled and spun to the side as he kept coming forwards. Because he was so much stronger than me I wouldn't have a chance if he managed to grab hold. I had to outmaneuver him.

I backed up until I crashed into a tree, leaving me reeling. I raised my head to look past the pooling water in my eyes and watched as Naruto's fist drew back. Instinctively I ducked around the tree letting his punch hit it with a crash.

I jumped back around the side of the tree in order to take advantage of the sudden opening. I was met with Naruto's foot squarely placed in my stomach, sending me flying back several feet. I rolled along the ground until I finally came to rest well out of range.

I flopped onto my back and gasped for air, trying to intake what had just been so forcefully driven out of my lungs. As oxygen began re-circulating through my system I started feeling less like I'd just been through an air compressor.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, my hands out behind me for support. Naruto and Sasuke were walking over to me Sasuke with a half smirk and Naruto with disgusted look on his face and crossed arms.

"He jumped me," said Naruto, the anger evident in his voice as he hooked a thumb at Sasuke.

"Yeah, that's how fights work," I said with a weak chuckle. "You two go first, I'm going to need another minute." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he turned back towards the clearing, following Naruto who was already there and bouncing up and down in anticipation.

I looked up at the sky, letting my head loll to the side. After all this time I still wasn't even close to as good as the others. Even the small amount of progress I had made wouldn't be enough to go up against the strongest Chunin in the Elemental Nations.

The three of us combined had barely been able to escape the fake hunter-nin from the Land of Waves. How could we ever survive against the best of the best, and without the advantage of numbers that we had had in every single matchup thus far.

The only thing we had going for us was that our teamwork and the chemistry of our strengths and weaknesses allowed us to work together almost seamlessly. But other than Sasuke, who was the top of the class, neither Naruto nor I was anything particularly special. Naruto had been the bottom of the class, and had only passed because of the issue with Mizuki and the scroll. I had been brought up from the class below, and was technically supposed to be a class even lower. The only reason I had been allowed to join in the first place was because they were one candidate short, and I already knew everything because of Shikamaru.

There was absolutely no feasible way we could succeed, especially considering the ridiculously high death rates in recent exams. Everything I had read on the subject had been either useless or too broad to be much help. The only thing that was certain was the danger. It was brought up in every article I had read, and the medical reports from past exams confirmed it.

"You don't have to enter if you don't want too," a soft voice breathed in my ear. I slowly turned my head to look up at my sensei.

"You're early," I said unenthusiastically, even as I tried to muster as much shock into my voice as possible.

"Me? Oh I just happened to be in the neighborhood. I still have to go check up on this cloud, see. There's a really good view of it way far away from here and I wanted to see how it's doing today," he said aimlessly, his eyes twinkling all the while.

I shrugged, letting him know his excuse meant absolutely nothing to me. "But I do have to compete. Otherwise Naruto and Sasuke will be disqualified."

Kakashi-sensei gave me a sharp look. "I see you've been doing some reading," he said with an even voice. I didn't bother to reply and went back to gazing up at the sky. We both already knew the answer.

"If you don't think you can do it but you want to help your teammates, then you could participate until there's nothing but individual competitions left. Of course, as your sensei I can't confirm or deny if there will be or what order," said Kakashi-sensei. "And lastly, just know that if I didn't think that all three of you were ready for this, then I wouldn't have nominated you for it."

I looked down at my feet. Sensei was right, if I wasn't up to it, the least I could do was help my teammates get as far along as possible until they didn't need me anymore. I felt a large hand drop onto my head in a sort of comfortable yet awkward way. It gave me a few quick pats and was then removed. When I looked up again I was once more alone.

I pushed myself to my feet and made my way back to the clearing. I got there just in time to see Naruto go face first into the dirt. He sat up spitting out grass, and I grinned wryly. Since Sasuke was the winner I would have to go against him first, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. We eyed each other down as we waited for Naruto to leave the designated fighting space.

When we were clear I moved in quickly. If I couldn't achieve a quick victory Sasuke's greater constitution and strength would prove the difference. I ducked under a quick jab I swung my leg around, but he jumped back to avoid it. I came right back at him, dodging to the right to avoid a punch and leaping over the kick that followed.

I landed right behind him and aimed a quick punch to the back of the head, but he spun around and blocked it, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards him. I grimaced. It was all or nothing now. As he pulled me I suddenly dove towards him. Surprise showed on his face as my body crashed into his and we both went down. I tried to pin him, but he threw me off.

I rolled several feet and came up on one knee, breathing heavily. I could see the beads of perspiration dripping down Sasuke's face. He was bent over with his hands on his thighs. I looked up at the sun. It was almost time for Kakashi-sensei to arrive.

"Naruto," I called out, "let's have our match now. Kakashi-sensei will be here soon."

Before I had even finished the thought Naruto was in front of me, his face a mask of determination. This time I stayed back and let my opponent come to me. Naruto always moved fast, eager to start the clash as soon as possible. Even though he was rested, it was much easier facing Naruto. Because his rush was something you could count on, it was easy to avoid it and tip him over with a well-timed trip, which is exactly what I did.

"Well done Shikai, and for you Naruto, you must remember not to always rush in like that," said Kakashi-sensei, who had just arrived. "Today I think we'll do something boring."

"Something boring!" exclaimed Naruto, the despair in his voice causing me to let out a snort of laughter. Sasuke looked at me with obvious disappointment, as though I had somehow failed him.

"What? No. That's not what I said," Kakashi-sensei replied in apparent confusion.

"Yes you did, I heard you," Naruto yelled in outrage.

"Are you sure? I think you ought to go see a doctor Naruto, you don't look well. So as I said before we're going to do something different today," he paused and looked pointedly at Naruto, who looked away and turned up his nose. "Eh hem, something different, right. We're going to go over some strategies that you might be able to use if the circumstances are right." I looked up eagerly, coming back out of dreams of having a sensei that was actually helpful and taught you useful things and not just hide and go seek.

"If you see someone way stronger than you, you probably shouldn't fight them," Kakashi-sensei went on knowingly. I dropped my head into my hands. Honestly, what had I been expecting?

"If you see someone you don't know, assume they are as strong as if not stronger than you until proven otherwise."

"What if we see someone we know? What do we do then?" Naruto asked with his hand raised. It was probably the first time he had ever raised his hand to ask a question I thought with a smirk.

"Personally, I always like to say 'Hello' and give them a smile. You could also wave to them," our sensei said with a straight face.

* * *

"…and then I jumped up and said I had to do something important and ran away as fast as I could," I explained, my face heating up at the end.

I looked up at the sound of laughter. Ino had her both hands over her mouth and was shaking violently. I looked away in disgust.

When she finally calmed down Ino reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. "It can't be that bad. Look at my team, Shikamaru doesn't want to do anything, and Asuma-sensei has to bribe Choji with barbeque whenever he wants him to do something.

"I guess so," I replied unenthusiastically. I looked around the hospital waiting room, where we were sitting alone, except for the grouchy old nurse manning the front desk. "How did Shikamaru get hurt again? I thought you were just delivering a letter to the people one town over?"

Now it was Ino's turn to go slightly pink. "Well," she started hesitantly, "we did that. While we were in the town a farmer started talking to us as we were walking. He was in his cart, and the road got really narrow so we all were bunched up tight. Choji, Shikamaru, and I had been walking up front, but we had to make room for the horses, so there wasn't really much room and it felt like, I mean I thought," her face turned even redder and she withdrew her hand from my shoulder and turned away. "Anyways I pushed him really hard and he fell down in front of the horses."

I stared at her. I could only see one side of her face because she was adamantly keeping her gaze straight ahead. I wracked my brain trying to think of anything that would warrant that sort of reaction, but I came up blank.

The thought was driven out of my head for at that exact moment a young nurse, barely older than us, came in and said we could see Shikamaru. When we entered the room he looked up from his bed, where he had been propped up with several pillows. He was covered in bandages, but still had an amused look on his face.

"Bad news Ino, it looks like you're going to have to try a little harder to kill me," Shikamaru said. Ino's face, which had just regained its normal tanned look, went right back to bright red. She stammered an apology and promptly sprinted out of the room.

I stared at the door where she had just exited while Shikamaru roared with laughter. This was quite possible the weirdest day of my life.

"So how was your C-rank," my older brother asked after I sat down in the chair by his bed. So I recounted the story to him. He listened intently, nodding as I went along. He only interjected once, at the part where we tried to take on Zabuza alone.

"Are you stupid?" he had said. "Were you trying to get yourself and the others killed?" I hadn't had any response to that, and just went on with the story. When I finished he told me about his, which had been a lot less exciting. Apparently it was only supposed to take two days, but it got stretched into a week because they had a world class barbeque restaurant that Choji wanted to try, and then when Shikamaru got hurt they had to take him to the clinic in the village in case it was something serious.

"Have Mother and Father been by yet?" I asked suddenly.

He gave a quick nod. "They came by as soon as we got in. Father couldn't stay long because he had a meeting, and Mother wouldn't leave so they threw her out after three hours in here. There reasoning was that 'no one can get healthy with all of that yelling and pampering'." He grinned at the memory.

It did sound like Mother. Yelling and pampering, the two things she did best. Then another thought hit me. "What about the Chunin Exams? They start tomorrow. Will you be able to participate?"

"Of course I can. These bandages make it look worse than it is, I'll just be sore for a few days, but it shouldn't affect anything more than that." I smiled tiredly. It wouldn't be the same if Shikamaru wasn't there.

I must have dozed off at one point, because the next thing I knew Shikamaru was shaking me awake, saying "They just cleared me, we have to go now if we want to stop by the house and pick up whatever we think we'll need."

I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Then it hit me. It was today. The Chunin Exams. Suddenly I was awake and ready to go. Together we rushed out the door and set off for the Nara compound. People stared at us as we raced past. It was easily the fastest that they'd ever seen us move for anything.

We nearly broke the door, throwing it open in our rush to get our stuff together. Yelling a quick 'Hello' to our parents we leapt up the stairs and went into our room. I quickly changed and got together a small bag with ration bars and the few soldier pills that I had. I restocked my weapons pouch and refastened it to my leg. I strapped on my arm guards and grabbed my small bag, slinging it over my shoulder.

Together we made our way back outside and to the academy, where we were supposed to meet for the first exam. When we got there our teams were both waiting for us at the doors. Shikamaru and I turned our heads to look at each other simultaneously. Then we both nodded and went our separate ways.

"Hey guys," I greeted my two teammates. Without a word we turned and headed into the academy. We were supposed to meet in room 301, which was on the third floor. For some reason when we arrived on the second floor, everyone was clustered around a room whose sign said that _it_ was room 301. I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked back at the sign. Then I saw it. It was so obvious I almost laughed.

"Genjutsu," I whispered to Naruto, who also had his face scrunched up in confusion. I looked up at the sound of fighting. A boy and girl with leaf village headbands had been pushed down at the front of the crowd.

Sasuke stepped forward between the boy and girl and two boys that were blocking the entrance to the fake room 301. I stopped beside him with Naruto flanking his other side.

"Stop messing with everyone, we all know it's a genjutsu," Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. I dispelled the genjutsu, snapping my fingers at the same time for dramatic effect. I didn't bother to look back at everyone as we continued walking down the hall like nothing had happened.

A voice stopped Sasuke in his tracks. "You're Sasuke Uchiha?" said a boy with long brown hair and the large white eyes of the Hyuuga Clan.

Sasuke turned around with a glare, "You're supposed to give your own name before asking for someone else's."

We walked on in silence. It was broken when we entered a large room, by a voice calling a challenge. I looked at the clock, and then at the challenger clad all in green.

"We really don't have time for this," I said turning to look at my team.

Sasuke was already charging forwards. "Then I'll beat him quickly."

He was right about one thing. It was certainly quick. The fight took less than five minutes, but Sasuke wasn't the victor. Not even close. The look he gave us afterwards was clue enough that this would be one of those things that would never be talked about again.

After he charged he was immediately kicked back by the green guy, whose name was apparently Rock Lee. Lee waited for Sasuke to stand back up before he continued his barrage. I watched in increased fascination as even Sasuke's newly awoken sharingan didn't help at all. To top it all off the fight ended with a turtle, whom Naruto was convinced was Lee's sensei, telling Lee off. And to make it even better, an adult man with Lee's same outfit, pudding bowl haircut, and caterpillar eyebrows, showed up and told us he was stronger than Kakashi-sensei. At that point I was pinching myself trying to wake up from this nightmare.

When we finally reached room 301 it was already very full. I was quite surprised that there were so many people there. Team 10 came over first, quickly followed by Team 8. Naruto and Sasuke went over to talk to Kiba, while I stuck with my old friends.

"Are you three ready for this?" I asked with a grin.

Ino shook her head. "I wouldn't be ready even if we'd been ninja for five years already."

"Same," added Choji, his hands empty of the usual chip bag. He noticed me looking and said, "Mom wouldn't let me bring any food. She said it would distract me from the test. I told her that if I was hungry then I wouldn't be able to pay attention, but she wouldn't buy it."

I laughed along with everyone else. It was nice to be able to hang out with them again. Everything was so much easier when we didn't have a care in the world, and could just meet up and talk for hours.

Something of that wistful thinking must have shown on my face, for Shikamaru immediately asked Ino when they were getting their next delivery of flowers. They usually received them every two weeks, but this time the delivery service had gotten backed up, so they hadn't been able to make the delivery. I tried to stay interested in the conversation, but my mind kept drifting.

"What?" I looked around in surprise.

"We were just saying that it's awfully kind of you to listen to all of Ino's troubles like that," Shikamaru said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Ahh…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. I still had no idea what was going on. Luckily, I was saved by the examiners entering the room.

Everyone stopped talking and went to the seats they had been assigned to. I looked up at the board where the proctor had written the rules. We had to answer 10 questions, and each wrong answer would be -1 point, and each time we were caught cheating we would lose 2 points. If we were caught 5 times our whole team would be disqualified. Lastly the 10th and final question wouldn't be given out until only 15 minutes remained in the exam.

This was the absolute best test for my team. If I could figure out the answers I could have Naruto and Sasuke write them down using shadow possession.

I looked down at my test. The first question was breaking a code, I thought about it for a minute, before I decided on my method. It took me only five minutes to solve. I looked up to locate Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke was off to my left, one row ahead, while Naruto was three rows in front of me and only slightly to my left.

The only difficulty would be getting my shadow to them without touching anyone else or attracting attention. The desks. If I used the shadows of the desks I should be able to get to them both while avoiding everyone else. I smiled down at my paper. I grabbed my pencil and stretched my arms way back. When both Naruto and Sasuke were doing the same, I wrote down the answer and boxed it. Then moved my pencil to the top of the paper and lightly wrote, 'I'll get the answers for you two, don't worry'.

The others were rather difficult, but only the last one stumped me. It said ' _If an enemy ninja is running past you at what angle would you need to lead him by in order to hit him with a kunai in terms of V(velocity), if a) the enemy ninja is 20 yards away and if b) the enemy ninja is 57 yards away._ '

There wasn't much time remaining, and if we wanted a perfect score then I had to act fast. Ignoring my ego, I looked around the room for Ino, who I knew would have all of the answers. As luck would have it, she was just behind me to the right.

With my shadow possession I had her pick up her pencil, which she had likely set down some time ago, and write 'Can you give me the last answer? Please :)'.

Less than a minute later I had the last answer and relayed it to Naruto and Sasuke. Relieved, I slumped down in my chair, content to give my brain a rest for the remaining five minutes before the 10th question.

"No it's time to give out the 10th and final question," the proctor said in his deep and serious voice. "However, I must warn you that anyone who gets this question wrong will be banned from ever taking part in the Chunin Exams again. Those of you who wish to may leave now."

Several teams left the arena, but none of them were people I knew. I was confident that Naruto and Sasuke both had faith in me if they couldn't answer it themselves, and I wasn't surprised when neither raised their hands.

I was eager to find out what this last question was. If it was even harder than the last one then we might be in trouble.

"Everyone else is staying? Good, well in that case, you all pass. Congratulations."

I sat still. Everyone else was screaming in excitement. Then I realized that it was just Naruto screaming. I peered at him where he was now standing in front of me. He just didn't get the whole 'don't make a big impression' thing did he. Then I grinned. We had done it. We had proven that we belonged in the Chunin Exams.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Heeeeeeey everyone. No, I didn't die, why would you even say that? Because I told you I would post again in one week and then didn't post for two months? What kind of answer is that? But in all seriousness, I'm sorry about that. I've been really busy recently, those of you who have done college applications before know what I mean. I hope y'all are still interested in reading this.**

 **After the last chapter a bunch of you said it was a little rushed, and that's true, it was. Hopefully since I took four times the amount of time I usually take this one feels better. I certainly think that it's better, but maybe I'm just biased.**

 **Yesterday I was finally able to sit down with my brother and work out all of the plot holes in the story based on what I want to change. This chapter and the following 4 or 5, basically until the end of the Chunin Exams arc, will be the end of where I just follow canon with small changes. You'll see soon what I mean. Obviously I'm still going to do some of it, because it's unavoidable and Shikai being alive wouldn't have changed it, but a lot will be different and I have several arcs planned out that I can't wait to write now.**

 **Last but no least before I leave y'all alone, updates are going to be irregular until February at the earliest due to my college applications. Sorry about that, but if I could change it and give myself more time I would.**

 **Answer:** _My favorite class is far and away computer science. I really enjoy the fact that everything is logic based and yet it's still a challenge._

 **Question:** _What is your dream job?_

* * *

TBC


	11. Chapter 10: Know Thine Enemy

Disclaimer: Knock knock. Who's there? Disc. Disc who? Disclaimer for me not owning Naruto.

 **Chapter 10: Know Thine Enemy**

* * *

I stared down my opponent. She stared back, a quirky, taunting smile ghosting across her lips. I sighed. This was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Begin!"

I didn't move. There was no point. We both knew what the outcome was going to be. I began to slowly raise my hand. A whistling sound pierced the air and I jerked to the left, stumbling, and catching myself again, just barely avoiding the kunai that had been thrown at me.

"Take this seriously," called a shrill voice. I looked up and saw the reddened cheeks of my opponent, flushed from anger at my intended action. Her mouth had changed from its usual teasing smile into a pinched frown, her lips drawn tightly together as her eyes narrowed.

I gulped. How had things ended up like this? I cast my mind around the vivid memories of the last few days. The events had been far from normal, and my thoughts wandered back to what had occurred.

* * *

The gate rattled open as the clock struck noon. We bolted inside it almost instantaneously. Or rather, they bolted inside while I nonchalantly wandered through the opening in the chain link fence. My two teammates suddenly stopped when they realized I wasn't there with them, and turned around to look at me with raised eyebrows.

I smiled and waved at them, and subsequently proceeded on with my leisurely pace.

When I finally caught up to them Sasuke was not pleased. "Oh there you are. I was worried you'd left us in the dust because we were going to slow."

I ignored his dark tone. "I just wanted to take the time to enjoy this beautiful scenery," I said gesturing to the dark, intoxicating forest around us.

"It is called the Forest of Death, after all," Naruto added helpfully. Sasuke rolled his eyes and my smile grew wider.

"I think we should try to set up an ambush." My tone grew serious as I dropped the innocent act. "I could set up a visual genjutsu while you two lay a trap for whoever might come by. I think it'll give us our best shot."

"That could work," said Sasuke scratching the side of his head. "But…" he paused, closing his eyes to find the right words, "how do we determine who is weak enough for us to take them down?"

I shrugged. I hadn't actually thought that far ahead yet. "Cross our fingers and hope we get lucky," I said with a smirk. In truth I had more of a plan than that, but you could never be sure who was listening, and they didn't need to know everything, at least not yet. Based on what I knew of the Forest of Death and the creatures that lived there, it would be hard to track any team for a period of time, just because we could run into who knows what, as well as the possibility of finding another team. All in all an ambush seemed like the best strategy, and we had the skillsets to do it.

I pulled out the map and straightened it out on my raised thigh so that we could peer down at it. I wobbled slightly before adjusting to standing on one and a half legs, and indicated a point on the perimeter of the circle.

"We started about here…" I trailed off and looked back the way we had come. I could still see the gate through the trees, the sun glancing off the well-worn metal throwing little beams of light this way and that. "Let's try to make it to here, I think that would be a good spot for an ambush," I said looking back down at the paper and gesturing with my free hand. "It also gets us fairly close to the tower as well as a running water supply, which everyone will need if they don't make it on the first day."

Sasuke and Naruto nodded as they saw the validity in my suggestion. I rolled up the map and stuck it back in my bag. With one more look back at the gate from which we had entered this hell hole I jumped up into the trees after my teammates.

There wasn't much variance in the features of the landscape as we sprinted through the forest. I kept my eyes roving, as well as continually checking for opposing teams as we made our way towards the designated location. It was rather eerie, the lack of bird calls and rustling of animals as they made their way about, doing what animals do. All I could hear was the occasional blood-curdling scream as another team fell victim to the dangers of this exam. My hand unconsciously slipped down to my weapons pouch as another cry ripped through the trees from somewhere off to our left.

Suddenly a movement in front of us on the forest floor flickered at the edge of my vision. In one bound I caught up to Naruto and Sasuke and signaled a stop. We halted as one, hunkering down on one of the tall, dark trees with thick trunks that seemed to be the norm in this place. I checked for any chakra signatures down below, but I didn't feel anything. My doubts still not assuaged, I crawled to the edge of the branch and peered over the edge.

The stillness of the forest greeted my eyes as I looked down. I let out a breath that I hadn't known I'd been holding. I turned back to my teammates and shook my head.

"False alarm," I said and we set off once more. The rest of the journey was uneventful, and judging by the sun's position in the sky it had taken us an hour and a half give or take to arrive, or about two hours since the test started.

I immediately began walking around the agreed upon spot, looking for anything out of the ordinary while Naruto and Sasuke took a breather. The place we had chosen was in a small dip, just enough to where no one would be able to see what lay before them until they crested one of the small rises on either side of the area. Off to one side the quiet gurgling of the river was present, which was sure to bring in lots of ninja looking to refill their water supplies. After a quick scope I jumped back up to the branch upon which my team was waiting. I nodded to Naruto and he quickly made 10 clones to better scout out the surrounding area as well as set up a perimeter to alert us if anyone was detected.

We waited in what little comfort the large tree provided for the clones to report back and provide Naruto with the necessary information. In the meantime we tried to relax by eating to replenish our strength. Sasuke wasn't needed to establish any sort of defense, so he opted to take first watch later that night and settled in for a nap.

I trailed my finger over the greyish-brown bark covering the limb we were laying on, noticing the mottled green of the moss and fungi that were thriving in a place so well hidden from the sun's rays. My head lolled to the side, my vision going in and out of focus as I slowly drifted off and then shook myself awake again. I must have dozed off at one point because the next thing I knew Naruto was shaking me awake.

"Wazzup…?" I mumbled sleepily pushing his hands off of my shoulders to stop the shaking.

"I've got the reports from the clones, and I have the 10 now set up in positions around the periphery." He said it like he was giving a report to Kakashi-sensei, and I would have made a joke out of it if I wasn't half asleep and if we weren't currently surrounded by enemies.

"Good…I'll add the genjutsu now then." I hopped down from my perch, and the impact of the ground, which had looked a lot closer from in the tree, dispelled any traces of lethargy still remaining. I walked around the area, setting up little trip wires of chakra that would entrap anyone who broke them. This wasn't the most chakra efficient way to set up a genjutsu, in fact it was probably the worst one, but as of yet I didn't have another way to place opponents in the jutsu short of touching them, which sort of defeated the whole purpose of an ambush. The threads now guarding every possible entrance into the small glen, I jumped back to the branch we had made our camp and settled down to wait. Sasuke continued to sleep while Naruto and I passed the time in discomfort, constantly shifting positions, trying to find a spot without some stick or rogue piece of bark poking a rather uncomfortable spot.

It was just before we were to wake Sasuke for his shift that Naruto sat bolt upright. I didn't even need to hear the words to know what had happened, I could already feel the incredible pressure the enemy was exerting.

"Someone's here," Naruto breathed, the words coming out in a higher pitch than usual. I was about to tell Naruto to wake up Sasuke when I looked over and saw the pools of blackness that were the previously sleeping ninja's eyes.

"Fan out," I said softly. I didn't wait for confirmation before leaping off as the three of us took our pre-arranged positions. I held my breath as I waited for the enemy to hit the chakra threads. I couldn't see anything through the heavy layers of trees, but I could feel the heavy presence growing closer. The fading light interfered with what little visibility I did have, and I squinted as my eyes roved back and forth across the darkening area. Suddenly, the presence was gone. I stood up slowly, and looked around in surprise.

A maniacal laugh jetted through the air. My eyes widened as an immense wall of pressure exploded into me. I dropped to my knees, holding my ears in both hands, trying and failing to block out the horrid noise. The laugh changed to a scream, intensifying in volume and my body began to shake. The only thought running through my head was how to get away from this being of pure evil I had yet to lay eyes on.

My breathing grew heavy and labored as the scenery around me began to change. Now I was standing on a battlefield, full of fallen bodies, the blue sky giving way to an ironically blood-red sunset. With a sob I saw the bodies of Shikamaru, Father, Mother, Ino, all lying bloodied and broken among countless others. My chest heaved as I fought to overcome the wave of despair threatening to overwhelm me. I turned away and was physically ill. Brushing at my mouth with the back of my hand, I turned back to face the remains of my family as tears ran down my face, my eyes taking on a gaunt, deadened look as I surveyed the scene before me. I whirled around at the sound of footsteps. Before me stood a dark figure, cloaked so as to obscure any physical recognition, but my reddened eyes were drawn to his, where a light seemed to shine from. As my gaze was pulled into the swirling red and black of his eyes which seemed to bore into my very soul. I let out an unholy shriek of despair, the tears coming in a fresh wave, but for an entirely different reason. But I couldn't turn away. All I could do was stare back into the consuming red of his gaze as he got closer and closer, one arm raising up, reaching out, as if to grab me, the hand contorting into a fist inches in front of my forehead now soaked in a cold sweat. Then before my eyes he began to crumble away. The whole world seemed to shake. I swayed back and forth until it became too much and I collapsed to the side, my eyes already closing in defeat, even before my body hit the ground.

* * *

I let out a gasp as my eyes flew open, limbs flailing around wildly to fend off an attacker who wasn't there. Realizing such, I stilled myself while my lungs worked overtime to get oxygen flowing through my system. I closed my eyes, thinking back on what must have been a dream, albeit a very vivid one. Almost instantaneously my eyes flew open once more and I jumped to my feet, or tried to, what actually happened was I rolled over slightly and then pushed myself into a kneeling position. Just thinking about it had made me feel queasy, and it wasn't something I wanted to dwell on ever again, real or not.

I looked around me in search of Naruto or Sasuke. When I didn't immediately see them my heartbeat quickened. I stumbled into a standing position and wandered back and forth among the trees, but they were no one to be found. My fingers began tapping my outer thighs as the search proved unyielding. Eventually I collapsed into a bedraggled heap on the forest floor, long after it had proved fruitless. I took a deep breath, staring up at what would have been the sky had it not been blocked out, and tried to patch my frayed nerves.

I finally came to the conclusion that if Naruto and Sasuke were still alive, they would need supplies, and rather soon. My strength was slowly returning, and I ran up the side of the tree, climbing onto the branch where we had left our supplies. I grabbed our medical pouch and gear, thrusting it into my backpack rather hurriedly, causing some to spill out and fall down to the ground below. I cursed in frustration. Now was not the time for delays. By the looks of things it was close to dawn, which was when most teams would move out. With everything stowed safely in the bag I dropped to the earth below to retrieve what had fallen.

After making sure I had everything in my pack, I set off through the trees. If we were lucky, Sasuke would still have our scroll, but I found it unlikely simply because we had been split up. Best case scenario, we would still need one more scroll, but the more realistic option was that we would need two. With that in mind I decided to take my chances and try to overcome whatever teams I might run into on my expedition.

The forest wasn't much different at night, except instead of the decent amount of light from the sun that reached all the way to the ground, there was now only a minimal amount from the setting moon as it anticipated the rise of said sun. I had to go on almost completely blind. I had already planned on a reduced pace to make sure I didn't step right into an ambush, but with the lack of sight I was forced to keep to walking in order to insure that I didn't run into a tree or anything else that might be in front of me.

As luck would have it, not even twenty minutes into my journey I happened upon an enemy squad. They didn't look familiar, but without seeing their headbands I couldn't be sure if they were foreign or not. Even though they appeared to be sleeping, I didn't want to take any chances. I pulled out three senbon, coating them in my chakra. I stepped out from behind a tree and flung them with deadly accuracy.

"Hey!" someone yelled as I ducked back under cover. One of them must have been faking. I peeked back around and saw that two were sitting up and rubbing their eyes as if just waking up from a long sleep, while the third had disappeared. I could see the senbon sticking out of their chests, and they seemed to notice it at the same time, for one let out a grunt and plucked it out, and then pointed to the chest of his teammate. Now that I knew they had been touched they posed no threat, as long as I didn't make a noise, but I had to find the third before I could move in on them.

I was about to leave my hiding place behind when something sharp pricked my neck. I immediately stiffened. The sharpened side of a kunai wasn't something you forgot the feel of if you were a ninja, and it didn't take a Nara to figure out the situation I was in, although, ironically enough, it was a Nara who was currently the one figuring it out.

"Don't move," said a harsh male voice from right beside me. His hot breath hit the back of my neck in ragged gasps, as if he had been through a fight recently. The corners of my mouth twitched. Without any visible movement, I slid a senbon needle out of my weapons pouch. Coating it with my chakra, I readied myself, and thrust behind me. An 'oomph' was all the information I needed, and I dove away from him, rolling up onto one knee, senbon at the ready in both hands. But it wasn't needed.

The older boy looked around wildly, wondering where his prey had run off to when he felt an impact on the back of his skull, followed by a cold sensation trickling down his body. He collapsed in a heap and I lowered my kunai from where I had struck him with the hilt, knocking him out cold. I quickly checked to see if he was the one carrying their scroll, and smiled when I pulled out a heaven scroll. Perhaps my luck was beginning to turn.

A scream ripped through the early morning air, and I looked up with a start, for the first time noticing how much brighter it had gotten since I awoke. Then more screams joined the first, and without a second thought I took off in the direction of the noise.

I barely noticed as I flew through the trees, all pain and drowsiness now gone due to the adrenaline pumping through my system. Small branches and burrs cut at my clothes and skin, but I didn't bother slowing down to avoid them. It was a small discomfort, and as a ninja I was used to worse.

I landed in a tree above a clearing, doubling over to catch my breath. I looked up and saw Sasuke standing before three other ninja. I didn't recognize the symbol on their headbands, but it appeared to be a music note. I narrowed my eyes as I peered down at them. One was lying in a heap away from the other two, his arms, which were splayed out at awkward angles, were almost certainly broken. The other two, a boy and a girl, had grouped together to face Sasuke, who must have just turned towards them after dealing with their teammate. It must have been his screams I realized suddenly.

I reached out my chakra sense, feeling for anyone else who might pose a threat. Seven distinct chakra signatures hit me, three I recognized, three were the unknown ninja, and the last was a dark, malevolent chakra that streamed out from Sasuke. The coarseness of it made me gag, and my mind was thrown back to what had happened not hours before. My head swam as the images were brought up once more, and I swayed on my perch.

With a brisk shake of my head I cleared away the thoughts and set to assessing the situation. While I had been day dreaming Sasuke had already taken care of the girl. She had been thrown to the side, collapsed in a heap at the base of a tree, blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. Sasuke moved in on his last enemy, a manic grin showing on his face, my eyes widened at the wild, almost feral look in his gaze. The enemy backed away. With a shaking hand he withdrew a heaven scroll from within his bag and tossed it to Sasuke… who batted it out of midair and continued on towards him.

I wanted to intervene, to stop what was about to happen, but I feared that if I tried to do so I would be the one on the receiving end. I turned away before it happened. A terror filled scream was cut short with a wet squelch, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

I looked down, and before I could change my mind leapt from my perch. I landed behind Sasuke and held my hands up as I reached out my shadow.

"Shika now," I yelled, hoping that the three I had sensed before hadn't yet left the area. A second shadow snaked out from the bushes to my left, and with our combined strength we were able to hold Sasuke still. Perspiration dripped down my forehead, wrinkled in concentration. My hands held above my head clinched into fists, causing Sasuke's to do the same.

"Choji!" I heard my brother's voice say from somewhere beyond my vision. A second later the round boy appeared in front of me, his arms and fists enlarged from his jutsu. With one swing at the defenseless Sasuke, the dark-haired boy was left unconscious, held up limply only through Shikamaru's jutsu and my own.

We dropped the jutsu at the same time, resulting in Sasuke's body dropping in a heap on the forest floor. I sat down, drawing my knees up and hugging them to my chest. I closed my eyes, mulling over what had happened in the last 24 hours in an effort to come to terms with it.

I heard Team 10 approach from where they had been hiding in the bushes, their idle conversation nothing but mindless chatter in my ears. I tried to tune them out, but as they got closer it became harder and harder to do so. With a small sigh I opened up my eyes to look up at them. No one spoke. It was almost like we were afraid to break the silence.

"Where's Naruto?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. That was a good point. Where WAS Naruto? I looked around the clearing, as if I expected to see him appear out of nowhere.

I tilted my head to the side as I squinted up at my older brother. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I abruptly closed it again and turned to Choji when he began to speak.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere, but what happened to Sasuke, why was he like that?"

My eyes darted to Ino when he said Sasuke's name, but I couldn't read her expression through the blank mask she had set up.

"To be completely honest, I have no idea," I said bluntly, looking back at Choji. I hugged my knees tighter to my chest, rocking back and forth as I thought about what it could have been. Deep down I knew that it had something to do with the ninja who had approached us earlier. It was the same reason why Naruto wasn't here, why I had been so far away when I awoke. Saying that, however, would only worry them, and without further knowledge on the subject telling them would do no good. I grimaced. I'd just have to tell them later, after it all worked itself out.

"What scroll do you have?" I asked suddenly.

"Earth… why?" Shikamaru asked hesitantly. I dug into my backpack, my hands wrapping around the heaven scroll I had taken off of the group I had ambushed earlier. I pulled it out and tossed it to Shikamaru, who caught it with a surprised look on his face.

"Those ninja had a heaven scroll on them, we don't need two, so it might as well go to some use," I stood up, dusting off the dirt and leaves sticking to my pants. "I expect to see you at the third test."

I could feel their eyes on me as I walked away. I picked up the other heaven scroll from where it had fallen. Dirty and blood-stained as it was, it was still intact. My mouth tightened as I stuck it in my backpack. I walked over to Sasuke and threw his arms around my neck, his limp body dangling across my back. Without a backwards glance at Team 10 I headed off, awkwardly picking my way through the trees.

I would need to find a good hiding place soon. Now that the sun was above the horizon, teams would start making their moves, and two people, one of whom was unconscious, made for an easy target. We also had to find an earth scroll, as well as locate Naruto. There was only four days left in the second exam, and we were even farther from finishing than when we had started.

I found a small cave at the base of a cliff beside the river. I dragged Sasuke into it and, after laying him gently on the ground, collapsed onto the floor next to him. I closed my eyes, and the blissfulness of sleep crept over me.

It seemed like mere seconds before I was awake again, blinking in the midday sunlight that filtered in through the cave entrance. I checked on Sasuke's condition. He seemed to be breathing easier. The malevolent chakra was gone from his system. I quickly scrawled out a note and left it beside him, pinned down by a small rock. With one last glance at his sleeping form I left the cave. I ran up the cliff face back into the forest. Somehow, I had to find Naruto, and the sooner the better.

There were quite a few teams moving about through the forest, but most were too intent on what they were doing to check for a stray ninja. As I ran through the forest, dodging enemy teams, I thanked Kakashi-sensei over and over again for the stealth training he had put me through. Even though I was sacrificing some stealth for speed, what I had learned in the Land of Waves was what was keeping me safe here in the Forest of Death.

I scanned the forest floor as I flew past. We had no signal or means of communication, so the only way to find Naruto was to happen across him. This was very unlikely when considering how large the forest actually was.

After several hours of searching, I still hadn't found any hint of Naruto. I returned to the cave entrance with the sun already beginning to set. We had wasted a whole day, and now, with only three days to go, we were not any closer to finishing the second test. A sense of deja vu swept over me as I contemplated that, and I realized that I had been thinking the same thing this morning, right after finding Sasuke.

I looked out over the river, rippling from the cool evening breeze. The setting sun stained the water a dull orange, and the dark contrast of the trees on the other side set up a peculiar picture. I ducked my head and closed my eyes, squeezing my fists for a second and then releasing. What were we even doing here? We had been genin only a few months. Most waited at least a year before entering the Chunin Exams, and even then they still had difficulty with them.

I bit my lip. Either way, it wouldn't be easy for anyone. There was a reason why most promotions were field promotions after all.

"Why so somber?" a happy-go-lucky voice called out from behind me. I spun around, a grin already stretching out on my face.

"Naruto… how—where were you?" the words stumbled out of my mouth before I could even make sense of them.

He smiled—that ear to ear signature grin of his. Sasuke came up behind him, his face as blank as ever. He eyed me, taking in the abysmal shape I was in.

"He was walking in the forest," Sasuke said. "You should get some rest, we have to make up lost ground tomorrow."

I nodded weakly. The thought of a good night's rest was welcoming. The last two days hadn't exactly been a vacation, and the little rest I had gotten wasn't doing much to keep me on my game.

I followed them into the cave where I had left Sasuke several hours earlier. Without another word I collapsed onto the floor. Throughout the night I fell in and out of sleep, catching parts of conversation between my two teammates, but nothing coherent.

"Orochimaru," said Sasuke. There was a long pause before either spoke again.

"And he said to seek him out?" That was Naruto's voice.

"If I wanted power, yes."

Hours later I heard them again.

"—another scroll," Naruto was saying.

"Don't think he can hold out." I barely made out Sasuke's voice, even in the stillness of the cave.

"Here then?" A pause, then, "He won't like that."

Sasuke's next words were so quiet that I couldn't make them out.

"You're right, he would."

"We agree then?"

"Maybe. Let's wait till the morning."

* * *

I woke up the next day bright and early, refreshed after a long sleep. I remembered nothing from the previous night, save Naruto's return and collapsing on the cave floor. I pushed back all the other memories from the last few days. The sooner we could find an earth scroll, the sooner this exam would be over.

Sasuke and Naruto were already outside when I exited the cave, blinking at the sudden increase in light after the darkness of the cave. They both turned to look at me. Sasuke had his arms folded over his chest, and Naruto gave me a forced smile that was more of a grimace.

I tilted my head inquisitively. Naruto never acted so… strained. It wasn't normal. I eyed the two of them warily. Naruto shifted guiltily while Sasuke maintained his stoic expression. For a second I wondered what they had been discussing, but then I brushed it off. It couldn't be that important or they would have told me.

"I think we should aim to reach the tower today. I don't want us to spend any more time here than we have to," I said.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged knowing looks—since when did they do that?

"Let's head for the tower and ambush anyone we run across. If we get lucky we'll get an earth scroll on the way."

Naruto nodded. "I think that's a good idea," he said as he shot a quick glance at Sasuke. I narrowed my eyes. Just what was going on?

We packed up the few supplies we had taken out during our stay at the 5-star resort that was the cave by the river and picked our way through the rocky bank. We headed upstream, following the map given to us at the beginning of the exam. From my estimations it would take us three hours to make it to the tower at our current pace, plus the time for any potential battles.

For the first hour of traveling we didn't come across anyone, but our luck turned after we left the river and headed back into the forest.

"Quiet," I hissed, throwing my arms out to prevent my two teammates from going any farther. All three of us dropped into our stances, pulling out our weapons—senbon for me and kunai for Naruto and Sasuke.

We slowly crept through the forest, the sound of teammates arguing filling our ears. I tuned it out, only paying attention to the direction it was coming from. Just before they came into sight we stopped.

"Naruto, you flank. Take the right," I said. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. The last time we had planned an ambush, it hadn't exactly gone to plan. "Sasuke, wait until Naruto leaves then take front. I'll cover you as you move up."

"Senbon?" Sasuke asked. I nodded without a word. I really only had the one strategy.

Without another word we moved out. First Naruto left, then Sasuke crept forwards, using the brush as a screen. Now it was just me. I steadied my nerves and stepped out from behind the tree. What greeted me was three older teens, all ninja of the leaf, standing in a circle. The girl has pointing accusingly at a much taller boy. It might have been funny, for she was at least a foot shorter than him, but she commanded an aura of respect. The other boy was slowly inching away from the two of them. His horrified expression signified how he'd rather be anywhere but there, and with his attention fixed on the fight between his teammates, he didn't notice our presence.

It was almost too easy. I threw my senbon. All three were on target, and no one moved to deflect them… until someone did. The short girl had reached into her pouch and flung her kunai, deflecting each of the senbon, without even breaking off her sentence.

"—I'll finish with YOU just as soon as I wipe up these morons for trying to attack us," she was saying. She turned to face us, and as I stared into her fiery eyes, the only thought in my mind was how nice growing up would have been.

I took a step back as she stepped towards me. Luckily for me Naruto chose that moment to engage her teammates, and Sasuke jumped in to help. They didn't seem to be having any problems with their opponents, but if they didn't hurry up then there wouldn't be much of me left to save.

The girl whipped through hand seals I recognized from my bouts with Sasuke. My eyes widened and I dove to the left, rolling behind a tree. I jumped to me feet and ran to the next tree as the one I had just previously left exploded in dust and wood chips. If possible, my eyes grew even wider and my breathing hitched. My heart beat furiously in my chest as I dove to the ground, a fireball passing just over my head.

I through a handful of senbon behind, praying that one would hit her. Luck, it would seem, was not a fan of mine. A kunai pierced my right calf, creating a burning sensation that ran up my body. I crashed to the ground when I missed a step. My foot had gone numb, and I didn't dare risk pulling out the kunai. If it had nicked the artery then it was the only thing keeping me alive.

I looked back over my shoulder, fear showing in my eyes. The girl was standing just behind me, a fiery anger still alight in her gaze. The edges of her mouth turned up in a cruel smile, and I gulped. This was not going according to plan, not even close.

"I hope you will remember to stay away from my team after this," she said, her voice a deathly whisper.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Last chapter pushed this story over the 100 followers mark! So I hereby declare this story a success. I never expected to have so many people like it, and I was only hoping for this many by the end of the story at best, but here we are. Thanks to everyone for reading it, I hope you continue to enjoy it as I keep writing. I also hope that most of you who followed this story back from the beginning made it through the last few months with almost no new chapters. Correction time. Last chapter I said it had been a two month gap between chapters. I went back and looked and it had actually been three, so I apologize again, with some luck updates will be back to normal soon.**

 **I don't know if it showed but I'm trying to add more depth and details to my writing, the whole 'show don't tell' shebang. I personally think this chapter is better because of it, but of course I'd love to hear what y'all think.**

 **So Shikai has to face Ino in the prelims. Everyone who guessed it at the beginning of the chapter give yourselves a round of applause. This was one of my very first ideas, the Shikai vs. Ino fight, and I've been looking forward to writing it. I'm a little worried that Shikai is coming across as too strong because of his genjutsu. In my opinion, at genin no one really knows how to counter genjutsu except the best, but as you get higher it becomes weaker because more and more people can counter it. Basically it's super strong early and plateaus around jounin unless you are Itachi-level good. Hopefully that makes sense, he just looks stronger because no one can really counter him yet, but that will change as they start meeting opponents of their level.**

 **I can't remember if I said this before, but I was looking through the comments and someone said they hoped Sakura will come up later, and yes, she will. I'm not a huge Sakura fan, I've always been a part of team Ino, but she's important to the story, especially Shippuden, and I couldn't come up with a way to have everything work out without her playing at least a secondary role.**

 **Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving than… just be happy I guess.**

 **Answer:** _Game designer of some sort. I don't know what company but something in the coding area._

 **Question:** _Flour or corn tortillas? P.S. there is only one right answer to this. o_0_

* * *

TBC


	12. Chapter 11: Highs and Lows

Disclaimer: Do I own Naruto? No, no I do not. Did I watch Zootopia before writing this disclaimer? Yes, yes I did.

 **Chapter 11: Highs and Lows**

* * *

I stared straight at the unknown girl, my mind blank with shock.

"You heard me right? I said leave us alone," the older leaf kunoichi said. Her short figure somehow enhanced the menacing look on her face.

My head bobbed up and down in agreement before I'd even had a chance to properly digest what she had just told me.

She stepped forwards, her face a mask of menace. I scrambled backwards, my hands desperately reaching out for some unlikely savior I could use to pull myself away.

My eyes never left her face as her lips curled in contempt. In a last ditch effort I threw my remaining senbon at her. My heart sank when she deflected each with well-practiced ease.

A cry of alarm from behind her caused her to spin around. Seizing my chance, I dove forwards, ignoring the stabbing pain in my leg, and wrapped my arms around the older girl's legs, bringing her down on top of me.

She let out a violent squawk in surprise. I held on tight as she flailed around, ignoring the small flashes of pain as the kunai in her hand glanced across my skin in her efforts to get away.

A small thud caused me to open my eyes, which I hadn't even realized I had closed. I pushed the girls limp body off of me and slowly sat up. Naruto gave me a cheeky grin and a thumbs up. I smiled back wearily.

After pocketing the kunai he had used to knockout the enemy kunoichi, Sasuke silently reached out a hand. I took it, pulling myself up to stand beside him, heavily favoring my right side.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves, which were still tingling from the fight. "The scroll?" I asked, my voice slightly higher pitched than normal.

Naruto's smile dipped as he dug into his pack. "It's another heaven," he said as he pulled it out.

I grimaced. Some luck we had. We'd had four heavens over the course of the test, and not a single earth. But eventually that would have to change. Right from the beginning we had run into a ninja too strong for all three of us combined to take down, and experience that was both terrifying and humbling. After that Sasuke had gone crazy and attacked the sound ninja, and after four fights we still didn't have a pair of scrolls.

Sasuke's voice broke in on my reminiscence. "We should find a place to camp for the night." He frowned and glared pointedly at my leg. "We need to wrap that at the very least. Down a member we won't win many fights."

My fists clenched and I looked down at my feet. If only I hadn't underestimated the opponent then we wouldn't be in this situation.

I barely noticed the time pass as we made our way deeper into the forest. The sky grew darker as we walked, and it was dusk by the time we made camp. We stopped in a spot out of the way of the main paths through the forest. Even though you couldn't be certain where teams would pass by, it was only logical that they would stick to the more cleared out areas for both vision and mobility purposes.

Now that the second test was nearly half over a few of the faster teams would have already advanced, limiting the remaining number of ninja, and available scrolls, still in the forest. The need for scrolls would cause everyone to draw closer to the tower as the need for another scroll within the time constraint grew greater.

We just wanted to avoid contact. None of us were doing well, neither physically or emotionally. I was limping with every step. Sasuke was heavily weighed down by whatever had come across him before against the sound team. Even Naruto looked considerably worse for wear, his downtrodden form almost unrecognizable with the grit and mud staining his jacket and the lack of bounce in his step.

Luckily, or unluckily, for us, it wasn't until past noon the next day that we ran into anyone else.

Sasuke held up his hand to stop us, the first sign that there might be something wrong. I looked around, but I couldn't see anything from where I stood at the back of our formation. For most of the day we had been walking in a reverse triangle, with Sasuke and Naruto together at the front while I walked behind them.

I looked back at Sasuke when he held a finger to his lips, and after a pause pointed to the brush off to our right. I squinted at it. I could just make out a small shaking—something that could be passed off as just the wind, but at the moment the air was perfectly still.

After a moment we kept walking as if nothing had happened. I made sure to keep my posture slumped as before.

We only had to wait a couple of minutes before a surprised cry came from behind us. We whirled around and were met with the site of a grey haired, bespectacled ninja in navy clothes. The clone Naruto had left behind when we stopped had successfully ambushed him, and now we had him trapped.

I leaned awkwardly against a tree while the other two relieved the other ninja, who had a hidden leaf headband, of his scroll. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was an earth scroll.

* * *

Ino begin sprinting towards me with a high pitched cry that yanked me out from within my memories. I backed away from her, shaking my head to clear the cobwebs. I pulled out a handful of senbon, spreading the sharp metal pins between my fingers. I narrowed my eyes into slits, carefully taking aim so as to end the fight in one move. I let my chakra seep out and coat the needles in my signature move. My heartbeat slowed as I drew my hand back and let them fly.

All that happened in less than a second, giving Ino no chance to adjust her pace. The senbon hit her, causing her to stumble. I stood still, waiting to see if the genjutsu had taken hold. She looked up slowly, her eyes widened when I was nowhere to be found. My face split into a grin, and I starting walking forwards, twirling a senbon needle between the fingers of my right hand.

"Give up." My voice rang out clearly throughout the arena. Out of the corner of my eye I saw most of the people on the balcony lean closer, no doubt wondering why I would say such a thing after only hitting her with a couple of senbon. At the sound of my voice Ino immediately turned and flung several kunai in my direction. I casually ducked under all of them and continued on towards her.

"You seem to be out of practice," I said, allowing a tone of disappointment to creep into my voice.

"Shut up!" she yelled back, her pink tinged cheeks taking on a redder hue. My smile widened, she always had been susceptible to teasing. In the back of my mind I felt a small pang of regret. My smile faltered. Ino was my best friend, and it didn't seem right to embarrass her like this. I quickly pushed the thought aside. This was the Chunin Exams, it wasn't personal. This was just business… or at least that's what I tried to tell myself.

My eyes widened when I saw Ino give a quick wink in the direction she believed me to be, before holding her hands up in a seal.

"Release," she said in a ghostly whisper. My eyes narrowed when I saw the word her mouth had formed.

My gaze hardened as I looked at her, and her playful turquoise eyes stared back. She gave me a quirky smile and tilted her head to the side.

"You ready or what?"

A sharp, sudden pain in my upper right arm informed me that I had once more become distracted. My left hand jumped up to cover the wound, which had already begun leaking blood.

"Oooh, Ino draws first blood," a rowdy looking boy in a hooded jacket said from up on the balcony. He looked on eagerly and, after looking around at his peers, loudly exclaimed, "Looks like I'm winning my bets."

I didn't bother to listen for an answer, tuning out the audience until all I could hear was my steady breathing.

Clearly I had to think up something else. Ino wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and it seemed our spar a couple months back hadn't been forgotten.

I eyed Ino's malicious smirk uneasily and took an involuntary step backwards. I'd seen that look before. On my Mother. When she was pissed.

Unfortunately I didn't have much else to work with, and Ino's family jutsu would end the fight if she managed to pull it off. I quickly ran through a few possible scenarios. Most I tossed out, but two seemed to have potential.

I dodged to the left, as a kunai flew passed me. I dropped to one knee, my hand unconsciously dropping to where the bandage was tied just below my right knee. My hands came together to form the rat sign. I concentrated on the dark, on the shadows, and on movement.

My shadow aggressively snaked out towards Ino, but it did little more than herd her. Having Shikamaru on her team, who used the shadow jutsu more often and more proficiently than I did, made it virtually ineffective.

I dropped the jutsu. My left hand slipped behind my back and I stuck a kunai in the ground. Even if I didn't like using them, they had some uses that couldn't be replaced. Unlike senbon, something could be strung around them, held in place by the hilt. This allowed me to carefully wrapped ninja wire around it and tied it off. The wire slack dipped to the ground while I held the other end loosely in one hand.

I moved on.

I carefully circled to the left without taking my eyes off of my opponent. I ignored the goading calls from the audience to get on with it. Another few kunai placed, another step closer. I threw a handful of senbon without much care. All of them missed their target, but they weren't intended to do much damage anyway.

 _I hope she doesn't notice what I'm setting up before I finish it_. It was lucky Ino preferred to sit back in a fight. If she had rushed me like Naruto always did I wouldn't have had time to pull off anything. That being said, eventually it would come to taijutsu, as neither of us had any other jutsu that could finish the job with a high reliability.

The moment came sooner than expected when Ino suddenly gave up on pinning me down with projectiles. Instead she leapt forwards, kunai in hand.

I knocked Ino's outstretched arm to the side with my non-occupied hand so that in her haste to attack she slipped past me. I gave her a quick shove which, when combined with her forward momentum, resulted in her falling sprawled on the ground several yards away.

Instead of following up the attack I used the opportunity to place the last few kunai without having to worry about Ino's assault.

I heard booing from the crowd but I paid them no heed. I could care less if they understood what I was doing. All that mattered was that it would work. But I had to do it quickly. Ino wouldn't be down for more than thirty seconds. At most.

I finished the last kunai and pulled the ninja wire taught. Once it was all handing slightly off of the ground, I jumped to my original kunai and made another knot.

"What's that even for?"

I glanced at Ino, who was standing at the far side of the arena. In response I gave a simple grunt.

"Shadows."

I watched in amusement as her eyes narrowed. She stared at the threads running just off the floor. I could almost imagine what she was thinking right now. The threads running along the floor, their tiny shadows crisscrossing everywhere—"

Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a large 'o' as it hit her.

"Don't even try," I said as she pulled out a handful of kunai. "You'd have to saw at the wires to get them to break, this isn't the cheap kind we used in the academy. And even if you did manage to disrupt it, well, I think we both know it wouldn't work."

My mouth split into a wide, arrogant grin.

Ino let out a snarl, her eyes narrowing in disgust.

Even as she leapt forward I was already preparing my final attack. With a calmness I hadn't felt in a while, I pulled my last kunai out of my pouch and stuck the handle in my mouth, my teeth biting down hard on the metal. My hands came together forming the rat sign and my shadow snaked out once more.

Ino was still four feet away from me when she came sputtering to a stop. Now that she was caught I dropped the sign and withdrew the kunai from my mouth.

I took a step forwards, Ino mirroring my movements. I took another step so that she was right in front of me. I carefully avoided her gaze as I held up the kunai to her throat.

"And the winner is…Shikai Nara!"

I looked up surprised as a stunned silence enveloped the building. For a moment I had forgotten about everyone else.

After a seconds pause I released my hold on Ino and dropped my arm to my side. I shifted awkwardly, still not meeting her eyes.

"Sorry about that," I muttered after a second.

Without pausing to hear her reply, I turned and began gathering up my equipment.

* * *

"Oh, there you are. I've been looking everywhere for you two."

I cracked open one eye. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and loud munching confirmed my suspicions. I rolled away from Choji and stuffed my head under my pillow.

"Shikamaru, you aren't even hurt, why are you sleeping in the infirmary? Wait never mind. That's SO you."

I grinned under my pillow. I could just imagine Shikamaru excusing himself so he could come visit me—I had come down here after my battle with Ino to have my leg looked at, and must have fallen asleep on one of their beds—totally for the sake of sleeping in peace and quiet.

"And Shikai, your injury was tiny. A second of healing magic and you were probably fine, but you skipped out on all of the battles!" Choji's voice started to escalate in volume. "Ugh. I give up. You two are sooo useless."

Footsteps retreated back the way they had come, slowly growing softer until all that was left was a quiet buzzing from the infirmary lighting.

I sat up and took it all in. Shikamaru and I were using two of the small beds that lined the outside of the room. There was a light fragrance of flowers in the air, which seemed odd considering this was a temporary hospital. I tilted my head to the side, closing my eyes as I breathed in the smell. It almost smelled like the perfumes Ino would sometimes wear.

I shrugged and looked over at Shikamaru's bed, where he was now sitting up. I raised an eyebrow and gave a sort of half smile.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I had to battle Choji. Took me about three minutes to win. It was honestly the worst possible matchup for him."

"Did you see anyone else?" I asked.

Shikamaru paused for a second to recount the earlier fights. It was fairly common for him to reflect on something that had previously happened for a minute before spilling the information.

"The fight before mine was between two older Leaf ninja. It was a complete blowout. The Hyuuga destroyed his teammate, the girl with the alien hair."

"Alien hair?" I repeated back in surprise.

"Yeah, like this." Shikamaru placed two fists on either side of the top of his head.

"Shika, those are called _buns_."

No one said anything for several minutes. My eyes began to wander around the room, as it seemed our little conversation was over. At an audible intake of breath they quickly swung back to him.

"I knew that."

My mouth split and I gave a small chuckle. Shikamaru looked at me sourly but I just ignored it.

"It doesn't seem like anyone got injured enough to come down here though. That's good."

For the first time Shikamaru seemed to notice that we were alone.

"Huh, I guess they all left already. Sasuke came down here right after you did with your Sensei, they went off somewhere alone right after it was declared that Sasuke would have the bye. Oh, and Naruto and Kiba were still here when I came down. They fought each other right after your match. Naruto won, but barely. The girl with the _buns_ was here too, she looked pretty bad."

"Facing a Hyuuga, I'm not surprised—"

Shikamaru let out a grunt in agreement.

"—yet she already left," I continued.

"She probably wanted to see her last teammates fight."

I nodded in understanding. Speaking of that, we should have been watching our own teammates fight. Then I shrugged. I'd hear about it afterwards from Naruto anyways.

"We should head up too, the last fights will probably be over soon," I said while rolling off of the bed and onto my feet.

When we arrived back at the balcony we were greeted with a murmuring running through the entire crowd.

"What's going on?" I asked Naruto, who was standing off to the side.

He looked up at me and immediately grinned. "Face paint guy just forfeited to angry red hair dude before their fight even started."

I must have looked stunned, for Naruto chuckled softly. I turned to look down at the arena floor when the Hokage was announced.

We both must have zoned out after that, because the next thing I remembered Kakashi-sensei was carrying us both by the scruffs of our necks, reprimanding us for not listening to the Hokage's inspiring speech. Luckily for us, that was the end of team activities for the day, although we decided to have a meeting the following morning to discuss our strategies. After all, all three of us were into the finals.

When I arrived at our regular training field the following morning I was greeted by a friendly wave from my two teammates.

I plopped down next to them on the grass. "How long have you two been waiting?"

"Two hours, but I got here early to work on my strength training! I met up with that green guy yesterday after Kakashi-sensei dismissed us and he said he'd help me train," Naruto said.

I nodded and fell onto my back. It might be a while yet, so I might as well get comfortable.

"But don't worry, I won't tell him about any of your moves, Shikai. I also promised I wouldn't tell you any of his, so you better win fair and square." Naruto's voice steadily rose until he was almost shouting. Simultaneously, Sasuke and I scooted away from him.

Several minutes passed in silence. It was something I liked about our group. From the few times I'd watched Shikamaru's team together, even though all three were good friends, they were still constantly at odds with each other. It was something Shikamaru had remarked on after coming to pick me up after one of team 7's team practices. We never seemed to have confrontations. Before the mission to the Land of Waves there was some disagreement, but since then it had been smooth sailing.

"Sasuke you have to win your fight," Naruto said suddenly.

I lazily turned my head to look at him. "What's so special about his opponent?" I asked.

Naruto raised one fist and his eyes sparkled. I fought back the urge to gag at the obvious imitation of the green-clad ninja we had run into during the exams. Naruto didn't notice the look on my face, and I quickly composed myself as he went on.

"Sasuke's opponent is none other than Neji Hyuuga, the very person who quenched the flames of youth that burned brightly in the heart of his teammate, crushing her dreams and youthfulness, yeah," Naruto said with a beaming smile.

"…"

I covered my face with my hand and let out an audible groan.

"Well, I seem to have run across the wrong group of genin. I thought for sure this was where I had scheduled my team's meeting to be today, but it appears Gai has beaten me once again."

I removed my hand at the sound of the familiar voice. Standing right above us was the ever smiling face of Kakashi-sensei.

"What was the reason today, Sensei?" Sasuke asked in a reluctant voice that said he already knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Ahh, well, you know," the older man said in a cheerful, roundabout manner. "I just didn't feel like showing up on time."

Naruto gaped at our teacher, while I gave a small sigh and Sasuke just rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Because," our teacher continued, "I wanted to give you three a chance to rest. Aren't I a great teacher?"

I sighed again in exasperation, and pushed myself to my feet. When we were all standing and mostly paying attention, Kakashi-sensei began giving us his game plan on how to win the Chunin Exams final tournament.

"So I've given it a lot of thought, and I think I've figured out what we should do. Sasuke will be training with me for the next month—"

Sasuke gave a crisp nod as though he had expected nothing less.

"—Naruto I'm giving you away—"

Naruto let out a quiet 'eeep' at this.

"—and Shikai I'm sure you'll figure out something. So, any questions? No? Good. Then let's move out."

A stunned silence followed in the wake of this speech. Sasuke followed our sensei away from the training grounds while Naruto and I stood stock still. I silently wondered when I'd see them again.

But almost immediately Kakashi-sensei turned back to us. "Oh, and I almost forgot. If you ever need to contact us, just talk to Shikaku Nara."

And then just like that, they were gone.

* * *

The days slowly crawled by after that last team meeting. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei had been out of the village since that day, and I hadn't seen Naruto either, although I was sure he was training hard. In fact, even Shikamaru had decided to practice, although I wasn't sure how long that would last.

I had spent much of my time the last few days hanging around the missions desk. It wasn't that I was trying to get my own mission, especially without my team—even if the D rank missions were easy enough for a single person to accomplish. I was waiting for someone, specifically, one Kurenai Yuhi. Known as the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, Kurenai was widely considered to be the strongest genjutsu user in the Leaf Village since Itachi disappeared.

I had spent several days trying to find some way to advance my genjutsu prowess, only to determine that this was something that couldn't be taught through the books I could check out at the library. There were already a limited supply of books that delved into genjutsu, and none of those were available with my genin clearance. The few times I ran across a reference it was always the basic definition, with a tad more here and there. With that in mind I set about finding some other way to learn, only for it to lead to the most obvious conclusion. This would take a real teacher.

I had been avoiding finding a teacher for a long time, and even though Shikamaru and I asked our father for help on our shadow jutsu every once in a while, he stayed very hands off. From what I had heard, this was not the norm in a master/apprentice relationship, but it was certainly what I preferred. However, if it was necessary to have a teacher, then I might as well start with one I had a connection to.

Shikamaru was the one who told me that the leader of Team 8 was a genjutsu master, which seemed a bit odd at first as the team was clearly set up to be a tracking and retrieval team. The more I thought about it, however, the more it made sense. The art of genjutsu was all about stealth and finesse, and while it wouldn't be much by itself in a battle, it was great for staying hidden and escaping after confusing an opponent. In that way, it was almost a perfect foil to the genin of Team 8.

Yet it also meant that she did not currently have a student who used genjutsu. After a little digging I found out that she was out on a C rank mission with her team, but would be back some time in the next week, which was what lead to me being present at the exact moment Team 8 returned.

I waited as they talked to the chunin at the missions desk. I felt a lump rise in my throat and I fought back a panic at the thought of what I would say.

During my brief loss of composure they almost slipped past me. The need to act brought back my voice, at least momentarily.

"Wait," I called out, reaching up a meaningless hand to stop them.

Team 8 stopped and as a group turned to look at me.

"Err, Kurenai-sensei," I stammered out, looking at the floor. "D-do you wanna…I mean, would you, uhh, have lunch with me?"

In the silence that followed I looked up from the floor, only to find an emotionless mask on the older woman's face.

The sound of laughing suddenly filled my ears, drawing my eyes away from the genjutsu mistress. It was the hooded boy with the dog, Kipper…no Kiba—Shikamaru had told me his name when we got home after the second task—who had been placing bets in the prelims.

A crisp, "Sure," was all it took to pull my attention away from the boy and back to what had driven me to confront Team 8. I nodded sagely in a failed attempt to regain control of the situation.

After she dismissed her team we made our way to a small, out of the way café that I had never visited before. It was a small blue building with fine, white, italic print—it had what Ino would consider cute curls in it—that read 'Mason's Café and Bakery'.

A bell chimed as we entered, and when I looked around I noticed that the inside was just as dainty as the outside. A sky blue theme to a restaurant might seem off at first, but with the windows contributing quite a bit of natural light, the place had quiet the appealing feel to it. It must be doing quite well, judging by the quality of the furniture and how well maintained it was, but there was currently only one table that was occupied.

I let Kurenai-sensei take the lead as she talked to a young girl at the front desk. The girl looked to be no more than a year older than I was. Perhaps she was the daughter of the owner to work here at such a young age.

 _Although I shouldn't be one to think that,_ I thought with a grin. After all, I was two years below the regular ninja academy graduation age of 12, an age that was already considered to be controversial.

I turned my attention back to the young girl. She had mid-length brown hair, or I would assume so. At the moment it was drawn up in two pigtails that gave her young face a childish look that didn't quite go with the professional airs she put forth. From what I could see over the desk she was wearing a flower print apron several sizes too big. That plus the chef's hat left abandoned on the far corner of the desk strengthened my original impression that she was the daughter of the owner, who was no doubt also the chef or baker.

The girl motioned for us to follow and led us to a small table by one of the windows. As soon as the girl disappeared back the way she had come, any thought of her slipped from my mind.

I didn't say anything for a while. I was sure that if I tried I would mess it all up, like I nearly had back at the missions desk.

When a waiter came by I ordered a glass of water, and Kurenai-sensei asked for some drink I'd never heard of.

It wasn't until I took a sip that I calmed my nerves enough to speak.

I started slowly, trying my hardest not to fumble the words. "Err, Kurenai-sensei? I was wondering, would you be willing to teach me genjutsu?"

I held my breath as I waited for an answer.

She stirred her drink causing the ice to clink loudly in the otherwise still atmosphere.

A bead of sweat tricked down the back of my neck as I tensely gripped the edge of the table. My knuckles whitened and I scarcely noticed the balled up tablecloth I had clutched in each hand.

After a pause, she lifted her gaze to meet mine and opened her mouth to speak.

"No."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Wow, it's already been a year since I started this fic. I hope everyone has enjoyed it so far. I certainly have, even if I've been streaky on my writing habits. The next chapter should be really interesting for y'all, provided I ever actually, you know, upload it. This is the point where it really starts to divide routes with the original story, although some things are too big to be avoided through the changes that have and will happen.**

 **Hopefully it was clear enough in the chapter, but if not then I'll state a few things here. Kabuto's team did not make it because Team 7 took their scroll. That combined with Shikai instead of Sakura resulted in different matchups, for some people at least. Kiba vs. Naruto was, in my mind, too iconic to break up, as it was the first time Naruto was able to really prove he belonged in front of his class mates. Likewise, I kept the original Ino vs. Sakura match, but with Shikai instead of Sakura, as it felt like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Shikai has had it pretty easy so far, but against an opponent who can cancel out all of his usual techniques he has to really think outside the box in order to win.**

 **Sorry about the abrupt ending, I didn't want it to just meander on endlessly, and with a slow paced chapter I figured it was best to just cut it there. Since the chapter is a little shorter than usual, and as an apology for not uploading in forever, I added a short one shot below of how Kakashi's plan could have gone. I don't know how accurate my representation of Kakashi is, but he's fun to write this way.**

 **Answer:** _Flour, duh._

 **Question:** _Who's your favorite Pokemon character?_

* * *

 **Side story 1: Take 2**

Since our teacher was almost always late, the genin of Team 7 had to find ways to preoccupy themselves in the time between the scheduled start time and the real start time. This morning, in the middle of the open training field on a beautiful day with clear skies, it was cards. Or more specifically, it was Go Fish.

"Shikai, do you have…a nine?" Sasuke asked, silky smooth.

I grimaced. Without making eye contact I pulled a card out of my hand and tossed it to my companion.

"And that's another pair. Looks like I'm going to win this one easily," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto grunted at that while I rolled my eyes. This was how most of our games ended up going, so we were used to it at this point. I had originally picked this game because I figured we could get a laugh out of it while not being competitive for once, but I could not have been more wrong. We must have had more blood, sweat, and tears spent on this simple card game then in our regular training sessions with Kakashi-sensei.

Now it was my turn, but at this point in the game I didn't know anything of what the others had. I bit my lip and looked down at my cards.

"Naruto…a three?" I asked hopefully.

"Ha, no. You suck," the other boy said with a grin.

I sighed. "All you have to say is 'go fish'," I reminded him for what must have been the hundredth time.

"Then go fish!"

I shook my head. I grabbed the top card and was pleasantly surprised when it was a match for the three I had just asked for.

As I was laying the cards down Naruto said, "Sasuke, do you have a nine?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I just put my nines down, weren't you paying attention. Go fish."

"Oh is it that time of year already?" said the shocked voice of our sensei.

"Hello Kakashi-sensei. What happened today?" I asked as I packed up the cards.

"Hmm, let's see. Well since you said it's time to go fish I guess I was fishing wasn't I," the man said with a chuckle.

In unison, Sasuke, Naruto, and I all groaned. I gave another groan at the effort it took to get to my feet after sitting for several hours, and once I was upright I abruptly dusted off my pants.

When we were all standing and mostly paying attention, Kakashi-sensei began giving us his game plan on how to win the Chunin Exams final tournament.

The seasoned veteran pulled out a whiteboard seemingly from out of thin air. "So I drew up the PERFECT PLAN on this whiteboard here," said our teacher, his voice rushed in giddy excitement.

I raised an eyebrow. Sometimes Kakashi-sensei seemed more childlike than we did.

"Hey, wait a minute," came a disgruntled voice from my left. "Why does it say that I'm supposed to give up right away? How is that a 'perfect plan'?"

I almost laughed at Naruto's reaction. I didn't know who he was facing, but if Kakashi-sensei was trying to get him amped up it was almost sure to succeed.

My curiosity awakened, I peered at the barely legible writing on the whiteboard, accompanied by stick-figure diagrams. This time both of my eyebrows shot up.

"First round, win super fast. Second round, forfeit right away," I read aloud in an even voice. "Wow, that is quite the strategy Kakashi-sensei. Is that drawing there me 'winning super fast'?"

"Yes, yes," the jounin said in a proud tone. "I spent all last night coming up with these. The drawings took forever too, that's the real reason I was late."

"Ahh, of course," I muttered in a voice too quiet for anyone else to hear me.

"Well, I like my strategy," Sasuke said with a Naruto-esque grin.

Before I could even read what it said Naruto yelled back at him with his fists waving wildly in the air.

"Of course you do, your strategy is 'learn super awesome jutsu from best teacher ever and win a lot'."

Sasuke nodded smugly as an evil glint entered his eye. "Well, really Kakashi-sensei just based it on our talents. I'm the best so naturally I should try to win it all, while Naruto, you're the worst so you should just give up now."

"WHAAAAT?!"

Now Naruto's voice was reaching unprecedented volumes.

"Is that true Kakashi-sensei?"

At the pleading tone of Naruto's words I might have felt sorry for him, if I hadn't been almost dying from laughter on the inside. Somehow I managed to hold a straight face, but I was sure if I tried to speak I wouldn't be able to contain it.

Kakashi-sensei, ever the mediator, spread his arms wide with his hands up in the classic 'whatcha gonna do?' gesture.

"Well…you know…"

"AAAGH," Naruto screamed as he sprinted across the training field, clearly trying to get as far away from his team as possible.

"You think we should tell him he's going the wrong way?" I wondered aloud.

Our teacher nodded appraisingly and with a raised voice called out, "Naruto, you are going the wrong way."

Without missing a beat the orange-clad ninja spun around and raced past us in the other direction.

 _Well, that was certainly a productive meeting_ , I thought drily. Perhaps the next one would be better. But almost as soon as that thought popped into my head I banished it with a quick shake. I grinned ruefully. That would never happen.

* * *

TBC


	13. Chapter 12: Escalating Tension

Disclaimer: The only thing I own here is Shikai.

 **Escalating Tension**

* * *

The crowds of people were slowly starting to filter in for the final round of the Chunin Exams. The tournament would be held in just under a week, and everyone was expecting the best of the best to come forward and show their potential. The matchups had been determined by random draws, and were as follows: Temari vs. Shikamaru, Sasuke vs. Neji, Lee vs. myself, and Naruto vs. Gaara. I had recently learned that Temari and Gaara where two of the three sand ninja who had taken part in the exam. No doubt they would be tough opponents if they were the only representatives sent by their village.

I had been focusing on improving what I already had. Without the help of a teacher, there wasn't much I could work on as far as genjutsu went. I trained with Team 10 when I could, but we all knew each other's strategies so well it always became rather unorthodox. I hadn't seen Naruto since the day of the meeting. He had mysteriously disappeared, and I wasn't the only one who couldn't seem to find him. From what I heard, no one knew where he had run off to. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei were training about an hour long run north of the village. I had been out to see them twice already, and would be checking up on them again later today. But first I had to meet up with Team 10. Supposedly it was a strategy meeting, but I found it unlikely that we would get any work done.

With a sigh I dropped my hands to my side. I was trying to improve my grasp on the shadow techniques the Nara clan was famed for, but it seemed I was stuck in place for now. The feeble grasp I had wouldn't do much to help me in the final exam, which was why I wanted to work on it, but it seemed to be beyond me.

Father hadn't been any help at all, and Shikamaru, who had progressed farther than I had with the shadow jutsu, always seemed to have a ready excuse. It seemed like I had hit a wall in everything I tried. My genjutsu and shadow jutsu were at a standstill, I had already read all of the books that I had access to that were of any interest to me. With Team 10 as my only training partners it wasn't like I could work on my hand to hand combat either.

I still had over an hour before the scheduled meet up time, but without anything to do I decided I might as well head over. I let my feet carry me forward without much thought, as my mind wandered to what Sasuke and Naruto might be learning, while all I was exercising was my patience.

The sound of laughter broke through my dreamy state and I stopped in my tracks. I looked around in surprise at where I had ended up. Instead of taking the correct turn I had continued straight down Konoha's main road and ended up at the Academy.

Slightly curious at what might have changed, I began walking forward once more. There was a fence around the outdoor area of the academy where the kids were sent at lunchtime while they were between classes. It was this fence that I leaned on, gazing over the top into the world I had reluctantly been a part of not long ago.

I tilted my head to the side. What would have been different had I never been placed on Team 7. All the kids my age still had two years left in the Academy, and here I was, competing in the final test of the Chunin Exams. It seemed almost like a dream, although my previous experiences could painfully confirm that this was, in fact, reality.

My mouth contorted into a wry grin as I thought of my first few days at the Academy. At the time I hadn't thought I would ever make it through, and I suppose I was sort of right, I never did finish all my years there.

The tolling of a bell signaled the switch in periods. Everyone on the playground made their way through the doors back into the school, and a different class came pouring out.

My eyebrows scrunched together as I peered at the new people. Something about them seemed familiar. My eyes widened and my eyebrows shot up as I realized why. This was my old class.

I stood up straighter and stared at the group. A part of me doubted it, but I couldn't help but wonder if any of them would recognize me.

* * *

"There's only three days left before the final round starts, so until it's over we won't be taking on any more missions," said the leader of Team 10, Asuma Sarutobi. "Shikamaru and Shikai both need to concentrate solely on their opponents, and the task for the rest of us will be to help them prepare."

I grimaced. Team 10 shouldn't have to sacrifice their chance to go on more missions just because my whole team had left me behind. Shikamaru didn't even need their help; he was better than me at everything and was smarter than anyone I knew. The only one who needed help was me.

I slowly stood up and walked over to the middle of the training field. Asuma had outlined several drills for us to go over as a warmup before we split and did our own specific training. I half-heartedly went through them and let my mind wander. It seemed like a theme with me, this lack of caring accompanied by a wandering mind.

My mouth twisted into a sad smile. Going through the motions, that's all that I was doing.

I thought back to my trip to the Academy and made a conscious effort to try harder. This wasn't the kind of opportunity everyone got, I had to make the most of it. With that in mind the preliminary exercises blazed past in the blink of an eye. I kept up that pace right until the end.

My work ethic didn't go unnoticed.

"Jeez Shikai, are you trying to kill me?" Shikamaru said, gasping for air.

I shrugged. "I'm just taking this exam seriously."

Shikamaru muttered something I couldn't hear, but I was certain it was the sort of thing Mother wouldn't approve of.

Now that our practice was over I could go visit Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. I turned to leave but just then Shikamaru spoke up once more.

"Can't you find someone else to practice with? Like Team 8 maybe? Their sensei knows genjutsu after all. It would greatly benefit my health," he rambled due to a lack of oxygen.

"I already asked Kurenai-sensei, she said no," I said without turning back around.

"You didn't ask Asuma-sensei?" Shikamaru's voice sounded surprised.

"What? No. Why would I?"

"Because…never mind. I'll take care of it. Just go to Team 8's training ground tomorrow and let me slack off in peace."

I looked back and gave my older brother a curt nod, and then headed off to visit part of my team.

I decided to take a leisurely pace through the woods so that I could have some energy left on the off chance that Sasuke wanted to spar. Since it would take several hours to walk there I had plenty of time to reflect. I didn't know much about my opponent for the next match, Rock Lee. I had missed his fight after I went to recover from my bout with Ino, but from what I'd heard he used only taijutsu. Normally I wouldn't be concerned, but I'd also heard that his speed was beyond comparison at the genin level. That was going to be a major problem for me.

I had always been the support option on the team, and although I was proficient in taijutsu, it wasn't something I was comfortable using. I might have been one of the best in the academy, but at the genin level, where everyone had more training and experience, I was well below the curve. With his speed I had absolutely no chance of catching him in my shadow possession, and after my fight with Ino I realized that my small genjutsu knowledge couldn't be relied on to win me fights in the same way I had used it before. I would have to find some other way if I was going to move on in this tournament.

Over the next couple hours I went through as many ideas as I could come up with, but nothing stuck. The speed of Rock Lee that I had heard so much about was something I just didn't know how to combat. So far the only strategy that I felt was even usable was trying to herd him with senbon and my shadow possession until he made some sort of mistake. But I didn't want to spend the entire fight on the defensive, just hoping that the mistake would come.

As I exited the forest into a bare, rocky plain, the yells and clashes of fighting reached the edge of my hearing. The corners of my mouth twitched into a small smile, and I unconsciously quickened my pace.

I called a quick 'Hello' to the girl peering at them from behind a rock as I rushed past.

It was a good five steps later that I stopped and slowly turned around. The pink haired girl, who wore a simple tunic with a weird purple bow, stared back at me.

For a moment neither of us moved.

The girl's hand blurred in motion and a kunai came whistling towards me. I stumbled back to avoid it, putting out a hand to keep from falling over.

I turned back towards where the girl had stood but she was gone. I jolted forward as a knee slammed into my back.

This time I did hit the ground.

I rolled to the side just as a fist hit the earth where my head was a split second before.

My breath caught in my throat.

I scrambled away trying to regather myself, but the girl didn't give me the chance. Within a second she was on me once more.

I desperately tried to push her back, blindly throwing punches that more often than not hit nothing but air.

A foot slammed into my ribs and I was thrown to the side. I coughed and clutched at my chest, trying to regain the air that had been forced out.

My eyes closed as my body seemingly surrendered to this unknown enemy.

But nothing happened.

A high pitched scream of rage followed by a string of curses reached my ears. I squinted at where the sound had come from, half expecting the barrage of attacks to continue.

I slowly sat up and it became apparent that my team had come to my rescue.

"It's a good thing I always keep a pair of chakra suppressing cuffs handy," Kakashi-sensei said with his signature eye-smile. He had just finished tying the girl up.

My head drooped in relief. I wiped the sweat from my brow and took the hand Sasuke offered me. I pulled myself up and the two of us walked over to the now enraged pink haired girl. The string of curses hadn't stopped, and I was beginning to pray that Kakashi-sensei also had a magical gag as well.

* * *

Kakashi-sensei was forced to leave in order to take our resentful prisoner back to Konoha to be questioned. I offered to spar with Sasuke, but he gratefully took this brief break from our teacher to relax.

Sasuke settled down on top of a large boulder and stared off into the distance. I followed his gaze but didn't see anything of interest. After a long silence we got to talking about the next round of the exams. Without Kakashi-sensei and Naruto around Sasuke loosened up from his usual tense, short-spoken attitude. He almost seemed…ordinary.

I reluctantly shared my concerns with him. I expected him to laugh scornfully but to my surprise he nodded thoughtfully before saying, "You haven't had nearly as much time to train as the rest of us, it's only natural."

"What about you." I started hesitantly, unsure how he'd react. "Do you think you'll have any problems with this Neji?"

His face tightened up at the name. I could tell something bothered him but he just shook his head. I didn't push. Sasuke was acting more open now than I'd ever seen him, I didn't want him to just close off again.

Well, that was just half of it. The other half was that the effort to drag the truth out of him was just too troublesome. I took a seat against a rock and hugged my knees to my chest. All of this worrying was really annoying. If this was how I felt for a controlled exam, how much worse would it be when I had to face an actual enemy?

A cool breeze swept across the barren wasteland unhindered. I shivered and hugged my knees closer. As the sun crept lower on the horizon we made idle conversation, but much of the time was spent in silence. When Kakashi-sensei returned I bade them goodbye and headed back home.

* * *

The next morning I did as Shikamaru told me to and headed for Team 8's training ground. I couldn't imagine anything he could have done that would make Kurenai-sensei change her mind, but he seemed to be very sure that it would work, and I trusted his judgement.

When I got to the designated place the whole team was already there. It looked as though they too had just arrived as they hadn't shifted into drills yet.

I was quickly introduced to everyone by a rather disgruntled Kurenai-sensei. The happy, hairy boy with the puppy was Kiba Inuzuka, the quiet boy who wore blacked out glasses was Shino Aburame, and the nervous looking girl was Hinata Hyuuga.

We didn't have much time to chat. After briefly exchanging greetings Kurenai-sensei sent them all on their way for individual exercises. Now that I was finally able to get the one on one time I needed to make progress I was a little nervous. I'd never had a genjutsu teacher so I didn't know what to expect.

Kurenai-sensei decided to get straight to business. "So how much do you know about genjutsu and what can you do already?"

I shrugged. I didn't think 'everything in the civilian section of the library' would be an appropriate answer.

"I know the basic theory, but I've never had a teacher before so all I know is one technique," I said.

She nodded at that. "I'm currently the only genjutsu expert in the Hidden Leaf so that's about what I expected. What technique do you know?"

I flushed. Around people who knew nothing or just the minimum I felt confident in my abilities, but before this master I was embarrassed to say the truth.

"Uhh, well…it's not an actual technique…" I muttered looking at anything besides Kurenai-sensei. When I got up the courage to meet her gaze I saw that one of her eyebrows had shot up.

"Oh?" was all she needed to say.

I stammered out a quick response trying to explain, "I wanted to learn but without a teacher I didn't know how to start, the books don't help very much. It was a visual genjutsu that hides whatever you want it to hide, but I wasn't able to fully learn it so it just hides me and it's really easy to break."

After explaining the situation I looked down at my feet. There was a long pause during which I could hear the sounds of Team 8 practicing all the way at the far end of the training grounds.

Konoha's genjutsu expert sighed loudly. "In that case we have a lot of work to do, and not much time for it. Come, I might as well start from the beginning."

We sat down and she explained to me all of the basics, as well as more niche information I wouldn't have learned in the books available to me, niche information that greatly improved my knowledge on the subject. I of course already knew that it had to be applied through one of the five senses, and that what a genjutsu did was affect how the brain interpreted information from one or more of those five senses.

"Genjutsu can mostly be rated in terms of two things: how stealthy it is, and how hard it is to break. Which one you want to use depends on the circumstances. A stealthy genjutsu might give you an advantage in a fight if your opponent thinks their current environment is different to how it really is. Whereas a genjutsu that's hard to get out of might be totally obvious about being an illusion and instead focuses on mentally assaulting the victim. Even if you know it's fake, if you aren't able to release it then it hardly matters that they know it's just a genjutsu."

I wanted to take notes but unfortunately I hadn't brought anything to take notes with. As she went through all of different topics my mind began to reel with all of the new information. Possibly the most important thing was the different aspects genjutsu could be used for. Lower ranked genjutsu could be used even in a high level fight as distractions. They could be easy to break or obviously fake, but still gave you that split second advantage. Others could be used for deception or stealth. I was disappointed to learn that genjutsu wasn't the best complement to Naruto and Sasuke's more assault oriented skillsets.

At noon we decided to take a break from the theoretical side and focus more on the physical. Kurenai-sensei taught me how to dispel genjutsu using the 'Release' technique. How it was able to nullify the genjutsu was through cutting off chakra flow and then suddenly flaring it. That allowed for a reset of the system, disrupting any genjutsu that was in effect.

Once I had practiced dispelling for a little over an hour Kurenai-sensei decided I should perfect the one genjutsu I did know, so as to make it usable.

"However you need to remember not to use this as a crutch to win every match. Most of your opponents will know how to dispel it, so you can't expect this to be your savior," she said as we began work.

We continued until long after the rest of Team 8 had left, and only decided to stop once the surrounding darkness made it hard to see. During the last few hours my one genjutsu had gone from an imperfect copy to its own unique style. Kurenai-sensei had helped me improve on the small changes the jutsu had made from the original until it was its own. Before it had just allowed the gaze of whoever was under it to pass over me, creating a shimmery veil so to speak to block my features. Like the old magician's box trick, where he uses mirrors to make it appear as though the body had disappeared.

Now it relied on the same sort of idea, but instead of creating that shimmery veil, it used a blind spot. In our eyes if we focus on one specific point, another point off to the periphery will disappear. In order to not have a hole in our vision, our eyes fill in that point based on the pattern of the area surrounding it. With Kurenai-sensei's help, the genjutsu now created another such blind spot by using the person's bifocal vision to write the background over my own body. It was truly ingenious, and was something I never would have come up with on my own.

Before I left I repeatedly thanked Kurenai-sensei for changing her mind and taking the time to teach me.

"I had forgotten how much fun it can be to have a student," she replied with a smile. Over the course of the day she had slowly warmed up to me. "Until the final exam is over you can continue coming to practice with us. It would be a shame if you weren't able to improve just because there was no one to teach you."

I smiled and, after thanking her once more, headed back home to get some much needed sleep prior to round 1.

* * *

"Shikai, wait."

I was just about to leave to meet up with Team 10 before the final exam when I heard my father call out. I turned around and saw him holding a shogi set.

"Play a game with me."

I hadn't played much since joining Team 7, but I sat down across from him and helped set up the pieces. I wasn't as smart as Shikamaru, and even he could only rarely beat Father, so I wasn't going to put too much effort into trying for a victory. I already knew it wouldn't happen. Father must have known that too, and yet he still wanted to play. I wondered what the reason for that might be.

I played passively, not really paying attention to any strategy and just absentmindedly moving a piece when it was my turn.

It wasn't until halfway through our second game that the real reason came out.

"I know I haven't been around much to talk to about your missions. I also know your mother isn't someone you would ever want to talk to about them—"

We both shuddered in horror when imagining it.

"—but I want you to know that you can still talk to me. I heard from Kakashi about what happened in the Land of Waves…"

I couldn't think of what to say, so I decided to keep it simple, "I know Father."

"Well, I just figured I should tell you."

We played another few games in silence before he spoke up again.

"Oh, and if your mother gives you a hard time just remember she really does love you, even if it doesn't seem—"

He was cut off by a woman's shriek from the kitchen, "SHIKAKU NARA YOU FORGOT TO DO THE DISHES!"

The aforementioned Shikaku Nara's face drained of all color and he quickly zipped out of the room.

I snickered and cleaned up the game that was still only halfway done. Father wouldn't be free for a while.

I didn't have anything else to do so I spent the remaining hour and a half before the start of the final exam with Team 10. We didn't do any training, instead we lounged around beneath our regular tree like the old days. It was nice to have nothing to worry about, despite it only being for a few short moments.

When it was time we made our way to the stadium as a group. Ino and Choji had to leave us at the gate since they were no longer competing. Together Shikamaru and I made our way to the participants' booth, where most of the other competitors were already waiting. I decided to take a look at the order of the matches, which was posted on the wall. All of the inner peace I had gained in the last hour left me as I read the first match.

 _Rock Lee vs. Shikai Nara_

* * *

It was go time. I tuned out the roaring of the crowd cheering us on and focused on my opponent. In the distance I heard the voice of the proctor counting down. When he reached the end of his mantra I sprang into action. Senbon flashed out to my left as I forced Rock Lee to move the other way. I had decided that my only option was to try to herd him around in order to both keep my opponent away, and hopefully force him into making a mistake.

But then it was time to defend. His speed was even faster than I anticipated. I tried to form a seal to bring up my shadow, but his outstretched leg knocked me back before I was able to complete the action. I stumbled backwards and threw another handful of senbon in order to gain the time to steady myself.

However the time it gave me wasn't enough. He was on me right away, and I once again was unable to complete the seal.

This time I flew backwards after a quick combo attack. I rolled quickly to my feet and brought my hands together to form the rat seal.

Just as Rock Lee was about to assault me once more my shadow leapt out and forced him to jump away. He ran up a small earthen mound and I quickly braced myself for an attack from above.

"Well played young Nara. Your fierce youthfulness shines brightly even after being knocked down. Truly wonderful," Rock Lee crowed.

I blinked. My hands dropped slightly from their ready position. Was he congratulating me in the middle of a fight? I must have heard wrong.

I shook my head slightly to shake the cobwebs I clearly had lodged in my head. I had to be sharp in this fight. So far he was just playing with me, and I still wasn't able to keep up. His speed which I had heard so much about definitely wasn't an exaggeration. Every time he moved he disappeared and reappeared in a blur, I was only able to keep up by anticipating his movements. My fists tightened. I had to find some way to gain the upper hand.

This time I was going to take the fight to him. I slid some senbon out between my fingers and began running towards the earthen mound. Senbon sliced through the air on either side preventing Lee from escaping.

I leapt up and reached my arms out in preparation to tackle the green clad ninja.

But all I caught was air.

I tumbled forwards from the lack of resistance and rolled so as to regain my footing. I quickly spun around and was met with a foot right in my gut. A grunt tore out of my throat as the air was forced out of my lungs.

I slammed into the ground. Before I could even take a breath I had to twist to the side, narrowly avoiding another kick. Lee's foot slammed into the ground right next to my head with a resounding crash.

Normally I would have been shaking in my shoes but the adrenaline that was now coursing through my veins helped me keep my cool. I grabbed onto the leg that was still planted next to me and pulled hard.

Rock Lee plunged downward, and ended up sprawled on top of me. I used his downward momentum to roll over so that I was instead on top of him. I got a few quick punches in before pushing off and retreating to a safe distance. I was breathing hard. The whole confrontation had taken less than five seconds.

Lee got to his feet and yelled out in a joyous voice, "That was truly well played my youthful opponent. Let the flowers of this battle bloom for all in the audience."

My eyebrows drew together in confusion. What the hell was he saying? Just who was this guy?

But now was not the time to wonder about that. In the blink of an eye he was on me once more. I threw a handful of senbon but he flashed right through them. His fist crashed into my face and I dropped to the ground.

I flailed out trying to keep him from following up. One of my feet knocked his legs out from under him spilling him to the ground next to me. He recovered faster than I could and pinned me beneath him. No matter what I did I couldn't get free.

In a last ditch effort I slipped a senbon needle into my hand. I let my chakra flow over it and stabbed it into his side. His grasp loosened up and I tipped him off of me and scrambled away, breathing hard. I stared at Rock Lee, waiting for him to make his move, but he just stood there. He kept looking around as if he couldn't find something.

Of course it was because he couldn't see me, but it was only a matter of time before he figured out why. It gave me a quick break, but as soon as he realized what had happened he would be able to release it and I would be forced to defend again.

But he just kept standing there.

It had been several minutes so my heart rate had steadied. If he wasn't going to dispel it I might as well take advantage. I crept forwards silently and pulled out two kunai, one for each hand.

' _This must look incredibly bizarre,'_ I thought to myself with a twisted smile. When I was just a few feet away I stepped on a twig. The snapping sound might have been a gong for the silence that had befallen the arena. Rock Lee spun around but I had already leapt forwards, slashing in an x shape.

Blood spurted out from the gash in his chest and Lee backed up in a panic. To him it must have seemed as though a ghost was attacking him. I thought he might even give up, but his expression hardened and he settled into a defensive stance.

So be it. I moved sideways like a crab to keep him in my line of sight. Once I had flanked him I rushed up and slashed at his body once more. This time he was somewhat ready, and a backhand hit me in the shoulder, knocking me off balance.

It was actually a lucky break for me as he continued to swing wildly, but his fists went over my head. I stabbed him again and he flipped back away from me.

Now that I had a clear advantage I was feeling much more confident. I decided to take a chance.

"Do you surrender?" I called out to him in hopes to end the match here.

Lee hesitated for a second. Then his jaw clenched and he raised his fist defiantly. "Never!"

I shrugged. I was certain I would win anyway now that I understood that he wasn't going to dispel the genjutsu. I pressed forwards and continued using my advantage. I tried the same strategy, flank and then slash, but he must have heard something because he stepped back just out of range of the blades.

Before I could make another movement a flying kick came at me. I was so surprised I didn't even think to dodge. His kick caught me in the shoulder and the force of it knocked me back. However it was clear he hadn't been able to perfectly pinpoint my location for it was only a glancing hit. I quickly steadied myself and stared down my green-clad opponent. He was no longer moving, and instead was listening intently.

I took a deep breath and dropped into my stance, kunai raised. Needless to say, I had been wrong. This fight was far from over.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm sorry it's been so long since my last update. I started college this past fall and it's been a big adjustment. I'd like to be able to get update out monthly from here on out now that I've gotten more used to it, but I'm still not sure how consistently I'll have free time. I honestly need to go back and re-read the rest of the story. I remember I threw down a few hints for things I'd be doing in future chapters but I don't really remember what they are (oops).**

 **Wow fight scenes are hard. I hope these weren't too bad, I think they are far and away my weakest part of this chapter. I'll definitely have to practice them, writing those two scenes was depressingly painful, I must have spent three or four times as long on them as on everything else. Really not hyped for the rest of the series if I can't get better at them. Ugh. Luckily Shikai is more of a passive fighter so that'll help.**

 **Since it's been so long I just want to say thanks for anyone who's still going to be reading this, especially if any of you have been there from the very beginning. As of right now the plan is still to take it all the way to the end, so it will be completed at one point, but since this is a story I'm posting as I write it, I don't know exactly when that'll be. What I can say is that you can expect the next chapter to be released over spring break.**

* * *

 **Side Story 2: A Strategic Date**

Sasuke slid into a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. He was supposed to be meeting Team 10 and the rest of Team 7 here for a strategy meeting regarding the final exam, however no one else had arrived yet, but Sasuke wasn't concerned. He was 90% convinced Naruto didn't own a clock, and the Naras were always late. The other two he didn't know much about, but they seemed to spend lots of time around Naras, so it only made sense that they too would be late.

Now that he was thinking about it Sasuke realized that Kakashi-sensei was constantly late as well. He suddenly felt fearful, what if he was the next to catch the late bug! Maybe that's what this meeting was really all about!

In the next moment the feeling passed and he berated himself for being paranoid.

It was that scene that Ino walked in on. Her idol, muttering to himself with the stereotypical tinfoil hat wide-eyed expression on his face.

As soon as Ino sat down across from him Sasuke immediately controlled his features. His face morphed into a guarded look and he wondered whether or not to ask if she heard anything. He quickly decided against it, instead he would play it off.

Ino meanwhile, was wondering whether or not the boy across from her had gone crazy when he spoke.

"So, err…when is, uhh…ehem. I mean, when is everyone else getting here?" Sasuke asked awkwardly.

' _Nailed it!'_ he thought, fist pumping under the table.

"I'm not sure," Ino said. Her voice was a good deal more natural sounding than his had been. "Shikai did give me this letter earlier, he said to open it when I got here."

Sasuke frowned. He couldn't remember Shikai ever mentioning a letter when they had last spoken.

As Ino ripped open the envelope he leaned forward casually in an effort to see what was written. Unfortunately he was unable to get a good look. Disappointed, he settled back into his seat. Sasuke watched Ino's eyes dart back and forth as they scanned the page. He had never noticed just how blue they were.

Sasuke suddenly observed that Ino's face had turned bright red. He realized he had been staring and quickly looked out the window. He wasn't even sure how long he had been looking, he could have sworn it was no more than a second, but maybe it had been longer and he just hadn't noticed.

Luckily for Sasuke, Ino hadn't noticed the staring. It was just a coincidence. He couldn't have known it, but at the same exact time his gaze fell on her eyes Ino had read the words 'we won't be coming, have fun on your date!' which caused her face to go bright red. She crumpled up the letter and looked across the table at her so called 'date'. He was busy staring out the window. Ino breathed a sigh of relief.

"It looks like they aren't coming," Ino said, drawing the boys gaze from the window to her face. "There's not really any point in trying to strategize without the others here, is there—"

Sasuke shook his head.

"—so should we go catch a movie instead?" The blonde felt her face, which had just returned to its natural color, heating up again. She could already picture it, sitting next to the man of her dreams, sharing a bag of popcorn, slowly drifting off to sleep, or rather, pretending to, so that her head could rest on his shoulder.

Her thoughts were interrupted by three short words that cut deep.

"What's the point?"

It was a simple question from Sasuke's point of view. He barely knew the girl sitting across from him, and he didn't particularly like movies. But when he saw Ino's eyes fill with tears he realized he had made a mistake. He tried to think of something to say to fix it but his mind went blank.

Ino abruptly slid out of the booth. She dashed a hand across her face to wipe away the tears and muttered an empty "Forget it," before hurriedly exiting the small diner.

She didn't hear the male voice say "I'm sorry," as she was leaving.

* * *

 **AN: For these side stories, you as the reader are free to choose whether they are fictional or actually occur. None of these will affect the actual story in any way. I'll probably be adding one in most chapters now since it gives me the chance to write from other perspectives and add more humor into a story that's rather on the serious side, as far as narration goes. Although just so there's no ambiguity, the one's titled 'Side Story #X' are the ones I'm referring to. I'm only saying this because in the future I plan to write some shorts that give more world building and allow you to see what the villains are doing that may be different than canon. Those are crucial to the story and will actually be happening.**

* * *

TBC


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